


The Very Best

by allihearisradiogaga



Series: Haikyuu in Hoenn [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Nishinoya Yuu & Tanaka Ryuunosuke are Bros, Pokemon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-07-12 16:47:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7114009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allihearisradiogaga/pseuds/allihearisradiogaga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nishinoya is a Pokemon Ranger, intent on finding the Hoenn Region's biggest challenges.  Tanaka is desperate to prove himself as an Ace Trainer.  They team up to become the most intense and winning-est trainers they can be!</p><p>Part of a multi-fic Haikyuu!! Pokemon AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I'm super excited to get this project going. This is a part of a multi-fic shared Pokemon AU universe with some other writers. This way, we'll be able to incorporate all of the volleyball kids to the most of their potential! I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoy writing it, and there'll be MUCH more to come!
> 
> ((Also, the Asahi/Noya won't be coming in until a few chapters in, so please stick with me if that's what you're looking for!))

“Scraggy!  Use bite!”  Nishinoya held his hand toward the air, as if that gave him more authority as he shouted his command.  The small Pokémon darted forward, its teeth bared, toward the Drilbur.

“Drilbur, defense curl!”  Tanaka was not one to be beaten backward, especially not if he was going to win the battle in the end.  He gritted his teeth as his Pokémon, though augmenting its defense, took the bite from the small lizard.  He mustered some more breath.  “Metal claw!”  He clenched his fists and punched his elbows back in a furious motion as he commanded this, and his Pokémon responded with the same intensity, leaping at its opponent with bared claws.

Scraggy held up its hands against the attack but could not deter it, falling backward to the grass with the other Pokémon atop of it.  “Headbutt, Scraggy!” shouted Nishinoya, lunging toward it.  “You can do it!”

And Scraggy could, slamming its forehead into that of its opponent, knocking it backwards, spinning its arms in dizzy circles.  “You can take it, Drilbur, you’ve got it!” Tanaka shouted, shaking his two clenched fists along with the rest of his upper body.  “Come on!  Mud slap!”

At the same time, Scraggy got to its feet, wavering slightly.  Nishinoya planed his own feet and pumped a fist into the air.  “Low kick, Scraggy!” he shouted.  “While it’s weak, you’ve got it!”

The Pokémon’s eyes caught each other in the moment before they moved, and there was an electricity in the air.  Then, they lunged at each other, Scraggy aiming low and Drilbur aiming high, each’s attack connecting with the other at the same time, in a dry _smack_ of a collision.  Both Pokémon fell to the ground in a small heap.

The trainers stared at each other for a moment, and neither was sure what exactly to do next.  The Pokémon now unconscious next to each other, between them, were the last of each of their parties, the last hope they had at _winning_ the battle.  And now that it seemed the battle was over, they were both left without any conscious Pokémon.  Which meant…

“I win, then, right?” said Tanaka, jabbing a thumb at his chest, a grin spreading across his face.

“I think you mean _I_ win,” said Nishinoya, standing up straight from his power pose in order to feign more height than he actually had.

“Are you kidding me?” asked Tanaka.  “I had you on the ropes at the end there.  They might both be KO’d, but I definitely had the upper hand.”

“If you’d had the upper hand, your Drilbur wouldn’t be fainted right now,” said Nishinoya.  He planted his fists on his hips as if to punctuate his point.

The two of them just stood there for a moment, staring at each other.  Then, slowly, they each reached for their pokéballs and thumbed the buttons to return their Pokémon.  The Pokémon both disappeared in a flash of red, and the two trainers were left staring at each other.

“…So…”  Tanaka looked around them, as the tufts of tall grass that populated the route they had been battling on.  “…what do we do now?”

Nishinoya looked around them, his hands falling from his hips as he did.  “Oh,” he said.  There was some rustling a little way off that could have been a wild Pokémon and could have been a trainer.  A chill went down Nishinoya’s spine.  “I’m, um, a Pokémon Ranger, and I’ve been trained for this sort of a thing,” he said.  He looked around, trying to seem more confident in his abilities than he actually was.

“Which way should we even _go_?” asked Tanaka.  He could feel the panic filling his chest and tried to make his face stoic.  This did not work, and the trembling corners of his mouth paired with his wild eyes did not paint him as the picture of calmness.

“Judging from where we are right now,” said Nishinoya, squinting his eyes to see past the tall grass to the water beyond, “I’d say we’re a little bit closer to Mauville than Slateport.”  He turned back to Tanaka.  “Which means it would probably be best if we went north.”

“We?”

“Unless you’d rather figure out how to get off of this route, which, by the way, is _rife_ with wild Pokémon just _gearing_ up for a fight, by yourself, you should come with me.”

Tanaka looked around one more time, and managed to bring a half-scowl to his face.  "Fine," he said.  "I guess I _should_ keep on with you..."  He did his best not to let the relief show on his face.  "I'm Ryunosuke Tanaka," he added, holding out his hand.

"Yuu Nishinoya," replied his new companion, taking Tanaka’s hand and shaking it vigirously.  "And it was great beating you just now."  He turned and began to walk northward, carefully slipping between patches of tall grass.  His pointed hair barely brushed the top of the grass, and Tanaka realized that he would have to stay _close_ if he didn't want to lose him.  He jogged a bit to catch up.

"Hey!" He shouted as he did, "don't go thinking you won just because you can get us out of here!"

“ _That_ isn’t why I think I won,” said Noya, his smirk only half-visible to the other trainer.  They worked their way through the tall grass carefully but quickly, knowing that at any moment they could be ambushed by a wild Pokémon.  Without any of their own Pokémon conscious to defend them, that would be disastrous.  Even a relatively low-level Pokémon could pose a real threat to an undefended trainer, were it agitated enough.  That was partially the job of the Pokémon Rangers, after all—to make sure that the impact trainers had on the wild Pokémon populations was small enough to not overly agitate the Pokémon and keep the areas safe for everyone.

This area was not one of the more often-patrolled areas, and was particularly treacherous.  That was why Nishinoya had decided this was where he’d patrol—it’d be a fun challenge—something he’d never back down from.  “So,” said Noya, breaking the short silence between them, “why did you choose to come out here, beneath the bike path on Route 110?”

Tanaka raised an eyebrow and grinned.   “Why?  Because it’s a hell of a challenge!”  He clenched his fist, his smile widening.  “I’m en route to become one of the greatest Ace Trainers there ever was, and that kind of stuff takes determination!  And excitement!”

“Are you sure it wasn’t because there’s a lot of electric-type Pokémon that live around here, and that drilbur of yours could dig its way right through them?”

“Th-that’s beyond the point!” said Tanaka, mock-offended.  He almost walked into Nishinoya’s hand, held up as a signal to stop.  The shorter trainer’s hand only came to halfway up Tanaka’s chest, but he got the signal and ceased.  Ahead of them, there was a slight rustling in the tall grass, the tops of the reeds wavering back and forth as _something_ scavenged beneath them.

Tanaka tried to say something, but Noya’s hand shot up and covered his mouth, pushing him backward, half off of his balance.  He rocked on his heels as Noya withdrew his hand and crouched down, carefully edging to the right.  Tanaka watched him for a moment before following suit, though not getting down quite as far.  They carefully skirted the area where the rustling was happening, and found themselves soon in a small clearing of grass, clear of the place where the Pokémon was rooting around.

They stood up again, and Tanaka let out a long sigh of relief.  “That was a close one!” he exclaimed.

The next moment, he was face down in the grass, something standing on his back.  He gasped for air, feeling the wind leaving his chest.  “Careful, Ryu!” shouted Nishinoya from somewhere above him.  Tanaka tried to get a look up at what was going on, but whatever was standing on him didn’t seem to be moving.  He could hear a faint growl emanating from the Pokémon, and when he started to move his arms to push himself upward, it barked at him.  He let himself fall back down into the grass.

“What is it?” he asked, his mouth full of grass.  He spat some out.

“Easy,” said Nishinoya, holding his hands out in front of him.  “ _Easy_.  Everything’s going to be fine.”

“The way you say that makes me feel like it really isn’t.”

“I’m not talking to you, Ryu.  Also, shut up.”  Noya took a small step forward, very carefully, and slowly reached back into his bag.  He kept his eyes locked on the Pokémon in front of him at all times, not breaking its gaze.  This was something he had learned about in training, and he wasn’t about to let the small advantage he had go right now—for once in his life, he was the bigger one in the standoff.  He just had to keep eye contact with the electrike, and all would be fine…

“Any time, Noya,” said Tanaka from the ground.  He felt little jabs in his back from the Pokémon’s claws above him.

Noya didn’t respond to his fellow trainer’s urges, noticing the way that the sparks danced around the small canine’s fur, as it bared its tiny teeth.  He rooted around in his bag and produced a strange-shaped blue berry, carefully holding it out in front of him, toward the electrike.

The Pokémon extended its nose a bit toward Noya, sniffing as it went.  It took a step forward, placing one of its paws on the back of Tanaka’s head, eliciting a muffled protest which it ignored.  It stretched its short neck out, slightly recoiling when Nishinoya moved closer.  Then, it sniffed at the berry in his outstretched palm, and after a moment’s hesitation, gobbled it up, licking at Noya’s palm as it did.  He felt a numbness in his palm, due to the electric Pokémon’s static ability.  He pulled his hand back and let the Pokémon finish chewing its treat, licking its blue-stained lips when it finished, looking up at Noya.  It yipped in approval, and stepped forward off of Tanaka toward Noya, hoping for another.

Tanaka felt this relief and jumped up in one fluid motion to his feet, hands at the ready for a fight.  His face fell when he saw the tiny Pokémon in front of him.  “That’s it?” he asked.  The small Pokémon turned back to him and growled, sparks running back and forth across its fur.  Noya squatted down and carefully patted its head, handing it another berry from his bag.  It scarfed up the berry, and Noya looked back to Tanaka, shaking out his now-numb hand.

“Sometimes it takes some subtlety in this job,” he said.  The electrike, face stained with berries, yipped again, and Noya carefully petted it, noticing as he lost more feeling in his hand.  He grinned and removed his hand, shaking it out again, and the electrike wandered off back into the grass.  “Those were kelpsy berries—they are a favorite of most Pokémon and lower their attack power, just in case…”

“Oh,” said Tanaka, looking down and rubbing the back of his head, where the little Pokémon’s claws had dug in.  “Nice, then!  That was a good move.”

Nishinoya let out a short laugh.  “Thanks.”  He paused, then looked up at his taller companion.  “I guess that means I won, then.  Now that I saved you from that ferocious animal.”

“What?  No.”  Tanaka laughed as he said this, though, and clapped Nishinoya on the back.  “Don’t think you’ll get off winning by distracting that little thing.”

“That little thing could have left you here in paralysis,” said Noya, starting northward again.  “And it took you down with one little tackle, if I remember right.”

“It came from behind!” said Tanaka, following behind him.  They started carefully into more tall grass, the buildings of Mauville beginning to become visible over the tops of it.

“Sure, sure,” said Noya, waving his hand.  “What _ever_.”  They both laughed now, and worked their way steadily toward the large city at the end of the route together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nishinoya and Tanaka make it to Mauville, where they visit the Pokemon Center and introduce their teams.

The wait in the Pokémon Center for the nurse to return with their fainted Pokémon was agonizingly long for both Nishinoya and Tanaka.  They sat in the waiting area with one buffer seat between then.  They had talked plenty on the rest of their journey up Route 110, much of it friendly banter, but now that they waited in the Mauville Pokémon Center, they were much more subdued.

Outside, the lights of the city obscured the darkening evening sky.  Nishinoya leaned back in his chair and stretched out his arms and legs.  Then, he turned to Tanaka.  “So,” he said, settling back into his seat, “you’re an Ace Trainer.”

Tanaka grinned for a moment, and then looked down.  “Sort of,” he said, then sighed, his face seeming to stretch downward.  “No.”  He straightened back up.  “I’m not an Ace Trainer—not yet!  I’m working my way there.”  He clenched his fist.  “That’s what I want to do—become a power trainer, and be the very best.”  He looked to Nishinoya.  “I’m almost there, but I’ve got big plans.”

“You’ve sure got the determination,” said Noya, a smile wide across his face.  “And you fight with…”  He searched for a word.  “…ferocity.  You’re going to have to be able to take on a little electrike a bit better if you’re going to be an _Ace_ Trainer, though.”

“I didn’t see _you_ beating me, Mr. Pokémon Ranger,” said Tanaka, his brow furrowing.

“Yeah, but I don’t need to prove to anyone that I’m the best,” said Noya.  He jammed his thumb against his chest.  “I _know_ that I’m the best.”

Tanaka tried to hold in his laughter, letting out at first an indignant “ _Pfft_ …,” but after a moment, couldn’t hold it in anymore and guffawed, breaking down into all-out laughter.  Nishinoya answered this with nothing but crossed arms and a deadpan stare.  Tanaka seemed to finish laughing after a minute, looked back to Nishinoya’s face, and broke down into laughter again.

When he seemed to settle down again, Nishinoya raised an eyebrow.  “Are you finished, Ryu?”

Tanaka almost broke down laughing again, but held it together, stifling the last few giggles.  He sniffed as he caught his breath, and nodded.  “Yeah, yeah.”

“As I was _saying_ ,” said Noya, “I am the best because I _do_ my best every day.  I give it my all.  And that’s how I’m the best me I can be.  Maybe I’m not the best _ever_ , but I’ll get there if I focus on making my best _me_ even better.”

“That’s…” said Tanaka, his mouth hanging slightly open, “…awesome.”  His eyes lit up.  “Yeah, that’s cool, really!”

“Thanks,” said Noya, a grin appearing on his face.

“So if you’re all about betterment and all, why are you a Pokémon Ranger, instead of challenging the League and everything?”

Nishinoya shut his eyes and closed his fingers into fists, forming a pose of focus and determination.  “Well,” he said, “Pokémon Rangers have the coolest uniforms.”  He paused, for effect, and Tanaka had nothing to interject.  Noya continued.  “The black and orange are just so cool.  And they don’t look too bad on my fellow Rangers, if you know what I’m saying.”  He nudged Tanaka with his elbow—sort of an awkward gesture thanks to the buffer chair they’d left between them.

They laughed together now, and as they did, a nurse approached them with a tray of pokéballs.  “Here are your Pokémon, rested and fighting fit!” she said, holding the tray out to the both of them.  They took their pokéballs back—four each—and clipped them to their belts.  “We hope to see you again!”

Both of the trainers thanked the nurse and began to head toward the door.  Realizing they were headed in the same direction, Nishinoya let Tanaka through the door first.  “Ryu,” he began, letting the door close behind him, “where do you think you’ll be going next?”

Tanaka stopped, and thought for a moment.  Then, “I guess I’ll be heading toward the west,” he said, “Down Route 117, toward Verdanturf.  There’re a couple of good spots for training around there, and I figure that’s the best place to go, since I guess I need to work a little harder before making my way down Route 110 again.”  He shrugged.

“Well, I was—look, I’m heading that way, too,” said Noya, glancing down at his PokéNav.  “There’s a Pokémon Ranger Station over in Verdanturf at the mouth of the Rusturf Tunnel, and I should probably check in there.”

“Okay…” said Tanaka.

“What I’m saying is, we could stick together.  Obviously we both want to train hard and become better and stuff, and who knows?  We might make a pretty good team.”

Ryunosuke paused for a moment, and grinned.  “You know what?  Yeah, yeah!  That sounds cool.”  He fired out a thumbs-up.  “Yeah!”

Nishinoya held out his fist, and Tanaka met it with his own.  When they brought back their hands to their sides, they both wore grins.  “Now what?” asked Noya.

“Well, Yuu, I think we should go check out Mauville—I mean, it doesn’t make sense to leave the city tonight.  It’s dark already.”  Tanaka held out his arms, and Nishinoya made note.  Though the bright lights of the city dispelled most of the darkness, it was a black, starry sky above them, rather than the sunny sky that had shone earlier that day.

“Alright, yeah,” said Noya, grinning.  “What’s there to do in this town, then?”

“Really?” asked Tanaka, grabbing Noya by the arm and dragging him toward the center of the city, “What _isn’t_ there?”

* * *

 

They walked away from the darkened building, and Tanaka was shaking his head.  “Sorry about that,” he said, “last time I was here, that place was awesome.  I don’t know why they would shut down the Game Center.”

“That’s fine,” said Noya, “I never have been very good at gambling.  It’s probably all the better that I hold onto my cash for now.”

“I won a _ton_ of cash last time I was here,” said Tanaka, grinning.  “I mean, until I lost it all, I was doing great, but I really had an eye for that roulette.”

“I believe it!”  Noya looked around the city, its lights still shining bright despite the lateness.  He felt at the pokéballs on his belt and turned to his companion.  “So I know you’ve got that Drilbur, but what does the rest of your team look like?  An aspiring Ace Trainer’s got quite the collection, I’m sure.”

“Heh,” said Tanaka, his hand going to his pokéballs as well.  “It’s not so much about _numbers_ , but what you do with them.”

“Oh?”  Noya raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms.

“Like with my Pokémon,” said Tanka.  “There are some people who think that because they’re something to be taken lightly, just because they’re not the most powerful.  But I promise you, every one of them is the toughest beast you will have ever seen!”

“Really?” said Noya, “let’s see them, then.”

“What’s that?”

“I mean, when we battled earlier I was only able to see your drilbur—it was the only Pokémon you had left.  And I only had my scraggy.  But I think it’d be cool to see what the rest of your team looks like.”

“Alright,” said Tanaka, holding his hand above his head in the spotlight of a streetlamp.  “But ready yourself to be amazed.”  He reached down to his belt and pulled off a pokéball, thumbing the button.  In a flash of red light, his drilbur appeared.  It grinned and bared its claws.  Tanaka grinned.  “You’ve already met this little guy, and know his devastating power!”  He placed the pokéball back on his belt and grabbed the next one, pressing the button.  As the light flashed, he spoke again: “Get ready for this, though!”  From the red light, a tall Pokémon wearing a karate gi appeared, settling back into a fighting stance.

“Cool sawk!” said Nishinoya, taking a step closer to the Pokémon.  “That _is_ pretty cool.”

“Oh yeah, just wait for the rest of what I’ve got in store!”  Tanaka grabbed the next pokéball off of his belt and pressed the button to release the Pokémon inside.  A much smaller humanoid appeared in a fighting stance similar to the sawk.

“Tyrogue?” asked Nishinoya.

“You bet!” said Tanaka.  “He’s a beast.  He goes hard like none _other_!”

“It’s a little small,” said Nishinoya, shrugging, “but I’ll take your word that it’s pretty powerful.”

“And don’t worry, I’ve got one more member of the team,” said Tanaka, grabbing the last pokéball from his belt.  “I’m particularly proud of this one, because we’ve been working pretty hard on some stuff together.”  He activated the pokéball and the last Pokémon in Ryunosuke’s party sprung forth.  It landed with the rest of the Pokémon, standing proud at just over a foot long, a rather scrappy-looking bug-type.

“A _wurmple_?”

“You _bet_ she’s a wurmple—I caught her myself, and she’s the fiercest little fighter you’ll ever see!”  He pumped his fist in the air before crouching down to gesture toward the bug.  “I’m telling you, she’s fast and powerful and ready to kick some ass.”

“O _kay_ …” said Nishinoya, holding up his hands, “whatever you say.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I’ll believe you when I see it.”

“I’m sure you _will_ ,” said Tanaka, gritting his teeth.  He exhaled, making a show of pulling himself back together.  “What kind of tough Pokémon do _you_ have, anyway?”

Noya grinned, his chin angled down.  “I thought you’d never ask.”  He reached down to his belt with both hands, grabbing two balls in each hand, and pressed the buttons on all of them at once, creating a larger flash of red light than any of the single Pokémon did before.  When Tanaka lowered his hand from where he had been shielding his eyes, there were four Pokémon standing in front of Nishinoya.  There in the middle was the scraggy, which he’d already seen before, during their battle earlier that day.  It struck him just how much the scraggy resembled its trainer, down to the flourish over its forehead.  Next to it was a similarly-sized humanoid Pokémon covered in sharp blade-like appendages—a steel-type pawniard.  On the other side of the scraggy was what seemed to be a very large turtle’s shell, full of holes.  After a moment, a small, worm-like head popped out of one of the holes, testing the environment around it.  Once it decided that it was safe enough, a series of tentacle-like limbs began to sprout from the other holes in the shell, propping it up.  At first, Tanaka thought that the shuckle was the last part of Nishinoya’s team.  However, he noticed a last little movement near Nishinoya’s shoulder.  Perched there was a tiny, round orange rodent, some electricity sparking around it—a dedenne.

The two trainers stood there, staring at each other’s teams for a moment, the Pokémon sizing each other up, and Tanaka stepped between them.  “Well,” he said to his small ground of animals, “get to know the team well—we’ll be rolling together for a little while!”

The Pokémon were hesitant at first, but then they began to move a bit more actively, examining each other and making small barks and squeaks of appreciation.

“They seem to like each other,” said Noya, replacing his pokéballs on his belt.

“They can tell that they’re all winners,” said Tanaka.

“You bet they are!”

They watched for another moment as the Pokémon mingled, and the dedenne half-rolled, half-waddled down Nishinoya’s arm to plop to the ground, where the scrabbled over to where Tanaka’s wurmple was hanging behind.  It held up a tiny paw, and the wurmple, though hesitant, met the paw with the tip of its nose.

“So,” said Noya, his heart full, “we start out first time tomorrow, right?”

“You bet,” said Tanaka.  “I don’t think I could sit around here much longer—the city’s great, but there’s more to _do_!”  The lights of the city around them and their Pokémon communing ahead of them, the two trainers bumped their fists together, both with wide, stupid grins on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know not much actually happened this chapter, but hold on with me--the next chapter gets them crossing paths with another part of the Karasuno squad, and I'm more than a little bit excited about it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nishinoya and Tanaka visit the Pokémon Daycare and meet a new friend (or more-than-friend?).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thanks for reading so far, and I hope you've enjoyed what we've got going here! This chapter is one I honestly couldn't get to fast enough--it's got an encounter I have been just waiting to write. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
> 
> Also, I'll be away from the 7th to the 11th at ConneciCon, and I'll be repping Haikyuu on Saturday as Nishinoya (I'll probably be the tallest Noya there). If you're around, say what up!

They left Mauville as soon as they were awake which, much to Tanaka’s annoyance, was about the same time the sun began to creep over the horizon. Nishinoya was, apparently, an early riser, and he wasn’t one to be held back by petty things such as “sleeping in.” He was up and dressed and in his uniform when he woke Tanaka up, using his other hand to check his hair, making sure it was pointed upward in its characteristic spikes. “Let’s go,” he said, “I’m ready to get going.”

            “That’s great,” said Tanaka, “but the world’ll be there in five minutes.”

            Nishinoya didn’t reply to this immediately, a response Tanaka took to mean that he was going to leave him alone to sleep a bit longer. The other trainers in the Pokémon Center’s hostel seemed to all be asleep, too, so there was no harm in it, anyway.

            The next moment, he was on the floor, having been pushed out of his bunk by his new travelling companion. “Come on, Ryu—we’re wasting daylight.” Tanaka gave a half-growl as he pushed himself up from the floor and grabbed his shirt from his bag.

            “Fine, fine,” he said, “but you better make sure we stop for some breakfast.”

            They _had_ stopped for breakfast, and before Tanaka nearly bankrupted the place that offered “unlimited pancakes,” Nishinoya pulled him out of the booth and got them on the road. The sun barely made it much higher in the sky, and the dew was still visible on all of the leaves and grass as they made their way out of the city and onto Route 117. The going was quick, and the two chatted with each other easily about their training regimens; Tanaka liked to see how far they could make it through a forest or cave before he absolutely had to turn back to heal his Pokémon, pushing them to their limits, not to mention his own mental limits, while Nishinoya preferred to attack with precision and regroup quickly, using speed to keep his Pokémon constantly moving and ready for the next battle.

            It was not long before their traverse along Route 117 was interrupted by something slightly different from what they had seen so far on their walk. A smallish building stood, a cottage of sorts, on the side of the route, with a wire fence around its yard, supported by strong wooden posts. Behind the building stood a set of kennels, which were open for some smaller Pokémon—a spinarak, some pidgeys and a wingull, and a growlithe—as they frolicked around the little play area in the morning sun. In the middle of the yard, wearing a long red apron and a matching bandanna to hold back his long hair in a loose bun, stood a tall young man, who was caught in a laugh over some maneuver one of the pidgeys had made in the grass.

            Tanaka cast a glance at the place, but kept walking, figuring it was just another place for Pokémon breeders to take care of and raise their Pokémon. It wasn’t until a few steps later did he notice that Nishinoya was no longer with him, and he was walking by himself. “Noya?” He turned to see that his companion was standing still, rooted in the spot where he had first caught a glimpse of the Pokémon Daycare. “Noya, are you okay?”

            Noya was not okay. The second his eyes had fallen on the breeder in the yard, something inside of him just stopped. In his stupor, he didn’t even notice that it was his _heart_ —and how could it not? The man standing in the yard, he was everything that Noya could have ever dreamed of. He was radiant, magnificent, nothing less than deity—and his smile? The way he beamed nearly brought Nishinoya to his knees. He was so taken by this vision ahead of him that he barely noticed when Tanaka started to call for him, and didn’t respond until Tanaka put a hand around his upper arm and gave him a little shake.

            “Noya, what the hell is going on with you? You’re starting to freak me out.” Noya shook his head a bit and cast a brief glance at Tanaka, but then looked back the way he had already been staring. “It’s like a duskull’s drifted across your grave or something—what’s going on?”

            “I just…” He broke off, as if he had completely forgotten that he was having a conversation with someone at all. “What?”

            Tanaka stood next to Nishinoya and, sizing him up and crouching down so that his head was level with his fellow trainer’s, followed his eyes. Those eyes were locked firmly on the Pokémon breeder up in the Daycare’s yard.

            Tanaka closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling as if to center himself. “I see,” he said, “and I understand.” He grabbed ahold of Noya’s hand and pulled it close to his chest. “And I promise, I will help you to that man.” His eyes shone with noble justice, and Noya turned to him.

            “I have never seen anyone like that,” he said. “A-anyone who is…”

            “I understand,” said Tanaka, holding up a hand. “There’s no need to explain. I’ve been struck by more than one pretty lady along the way.”

            “By their looks or by their palms?” asked Noya.

            “ _There_ you are!” said Ryu, clapping his hands together. “So, what do you say?”

            “I…” He looked down at his own hands, to Tanaka’s face, and back to the man in the yard. “I think we should go into the Pokémon Daycare.”

            “ _That_ ’s what I’m talking about!” Tanaka pumped his fist into the air. “Let’s go _get_ it!”

            Tanaka led the way, and the two of them made their way up the slight incline to the Pokémon Daycare. Noya worked himself from the daze he was in to pull himself into a more confident, less awestruck version of himself. Tanaka opened the door to the building, and they entered, letting the screen door close behind them with the ringing of a bell.

            Inside of the Daycare, an elderly woman sat behind a counter, holding a small book. A pichu rested, asleep, in her lap. The two young trainers walked forward toward her. “Hello,” said Tanaka, “how are _you_ today?”

            The old lady looked up from her book and placed it to the side on the counter, pages-down to not lose her spot. She was very careful to make sure that the pichu, still sleeping, stayed undisturbed. She chuckled, her small round body moving with her as she did. “I’m doing well, thank you. And what can I do for you two young trainers today?” She pulled the reading glasses down from her eyes and let them rest against her chest, supported by a beaded chain.

            “We’re interested in breeding Pokémon—not as a profession ourselves, but we’re interested in how it’s done and stuff.” Tanaka put on his best smile.

            “Oh, okay,” said the woman as she carefully began to move the sleeping Pokémon in her arms. It squirmed a bit, shifting its position, and let out a small _purr_ as it settled back down. She sighed, with a smile. “I don’t think _this_ little one is going to be going anywhere, or would be bothered to move,” she said, “so I think that my grandson is going to have to help you out—he’ll be happy to show you around.” She nodded toward the door behind the desk to the right. “Go through there, to the yard. I think he was feeding some of the smaller Pokémon who are staying the night.”

            “Thanks!” said Nishinoya, and pushed past Tanaka toward the door. They left the grandmother alone with her tiny Pokémon, picking up her book as they exited. As they entered the yard, the breeder they had seen from the Route was facing away from them, bending down to pat the head of one of the pidgeys as it romped around near the small feeding trough. Tanaka gave him a reassuring smack on the back, and Nishinoya took a few steps forward. A few of the Pokémon turned their heads toward the newcomers, but the man didn’t, yet. Noya spoke up. “Hey there!”

            The man stood up and turned, facing the two of them. “Oh, hello,” said the tall breeder as he brushed a stray lock of hair back under his bandana. He smiled, and Nishinoya felt the breath rush out of him. In that moment, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get out a word at all, much less charm and woo the man like Tanaka had psyched him up to do.

            “Oh, well, um, yes…” He was at a loss of words. Never in his life had he not had the perfect response before, and yet here he was. The man tilted his head to the side and grinned. “We’re here…”

            “We’re here to find out about Pokémon Breeding,” said Tanaka, salvaging the train wreck that was Noya’s communication skills.

            “Yeah,” said Noya, feeling a blush coming to his cheeks.

            “ _Very_ ,” said Tanaka, “ _very_ interested in breeding.”

            Tanaka took a step back to avoid any possible recoil from Nishinoya after that comment, and giggled a bit before getting distracted by another of the pidgeys that was romping around in the yard, and tried to catch it in order to pet it.

            “So what’s your name?” asked the tall breeder. He leaned against a little coop for the Pokémon and his smile was _too much_ for Noya.

            “N-nishinoya Yuu,” said Noya, holding out his hand. The other man took it, and he nodded.

            “I’m Asahi Azumane,” said the breeder. He released the handshake, and Noya wiped his sweaty palms on his pant legs. “I assume you met my grandmother on your way in.”

            Noya relaxed a bit, knowing the man’s name, but his heart still was beating faster than he thought it had ever beaten before. “I did—she’s interesting.” He paused, searching for more to say. “Is that her pichu?”

            “It is,” said Asahi, smiling. “She’s had it for a while, but can’t bring herself to level it up enough to let it evolve. She loves it small and cute.” He paused. “I assume because she hasn’t come out here that it’s asleep on her again?”

            “Yeah,” responded Nishinoya.

            “That happens a lot,” said Asahi. “I mean, that thing gets into position, and she’s stuck _still_.”

            “What, is she paralyzed?”

            “No, no, don’t worry,” said Asahi, putting his hands up defensively. “That pichu has lightning rod, not static, she’s safe. Just lazy, or considerate.”

            “It’s all a matter of perspective, right?” said Nishinoya.

            “That’s right!” said Asahi. His eyes closed slightly when he laughed. Noya’s heart leapt when he noticed that, and he struggled to get it to beat at a normal rate again. “So what can I tell you about breeding? I mean, I’m not going to claim to be the expert or anything, but we know more than a little about it…”

            Noya swallowed the lump in his throat and struggled out a grin. “Honestly, you can tell me anything.” He kept his eyes from lingering on any part of the breeder for too long. He didn’t want him to think he was staring, or checking him out—even if that was _exactly_ what he was doing. “I’d love to just hear what you have to say…”

            “Alright, then,” said Asahi, chuckling a little bit. “There are different groups of egg types, and different combinations of Pokémon can produce different eggs—this is really cool, because Pokémon don’t necessarily have to be the same species or even _type_ in order to breed—any one of the Pokémon who come in here, save for a select few which aren’t able to breed, can have a chance with any other Pokémon they successfully woo to create something new.” He blushed a bit as he met Nishinoya’s eyes, and Noya wondered if he and Asahi were the different kinds of types that were _compatible_.

            “ _Ow!_ ” exclaimed Tanaka, leaping backward. The other two turned to see that the pidgey had pecked at his hand, and now he was being chased by not only the pidgey but the spinarak, growlithe, wingull, and other pidgeys. “A little help over here!” he shouted. “If you’re done making eyes at each other!”

            Nishinoya reddened, but Asahi, if he noticed the comment, didn’t make any indication that he had. Instead, he produced a small whistle from the pocket of his apron and held it to his lips. It emitted a shrill, high-pitched _tweet_ that caused all of the Pokémon _and_ Tanaka to stop in their tracks. All of their heads swiveled toward the source of the noise.

            “Thank you all,” said Asahi, mostly to the Pokémon—though Noya could have sworn Tanaka was a part of his address. He spoke in a soothing, calm voice as he instructed them. “Now, I would appreciate it if you would come on back over to me—I have some poképuffs for those of you who cooperate quickly.”

            The word “poképuffs” seemed to be the trigger for the small horde of Pokémon, which all turned from Tanaka and bounded, some bouncing while flapping their wings excitedly, toward Asahi. He led them backward toward a small enclosure off of the back of the daycare building, offering a smile and shrug as he went. When he disappeared inside with the bunch of Pokémon following him, Tanaka joined Nishinoya by his side.

            “So,” he said, his grin stretching from ear to hear. “How did that go?”

            “This man is perfect,” said Nishinoya. The red started to go away from his cheeks, and glanced at the door where Asahi had just disappeared. “And whatever it takes, I will make him mine.”

            “I think he was digging you, too,” said Tanaka.

            “You think so?”

            “He couldn’t take those big brown eyes _off_ of you!” said Tanaka. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes the first move.”

            “A quick attack?” asked Nishinoya.

            “That was weak.”

            “Because we’re Pokémon trainers.”

            “No, I get it. It was just bad.”

            Noya huffed and turned back to where Asahi was now re-emerging from the enclosure, wiping his hands on his apron. Nishinoya pulled his eyes from Asahi’s strong arms, which flexed a bit as he wiped his hands, and Noya could feel his heart beating faster. He tried to keep the most casual smile he could as the breeder reapproached.

            “You wouldn’t believe the ferocity with which those Pokémon eat their treats,” he said, shaking his head. “I almost lost a finger or two in there.”

            “I understand _that_ ,” said Tanaka, rubbing his hand where he had been pecked at by the pidgey. Nishinoya shot him a look, and Tanaka, nodded, spinning on one heel and wandering away to become more than usually interested in some berry bushes that grew at the edge of the enclosure.

            “Anyway,” said Nishinoya.

            “Yeah,” said Asahi, releasing an awkward laugh as he did. He reached back and fiddled with his bandana and grinned. “So, um, you’re a Ranger?”

            “Yeah,” said Nishinoya. “I try to save the Pokémon and all.”

            “Nurturing nature is a great line of work,” said Asahi. “I-I mean, I like it too, what with breeding Pokémon and all…”

            “And you look good doing it,” said Noya, without really realizing what he was saying at all. “I mean, that is, it looks like you’re good at doing it…”

            “Oh!” Asahi clearly didn’t know how to respond to this advance, and Nishinoya internally kicked himself for it. He had scared him off, that much was clear, and he floundered himself for a moment.

            “I mean, you look good, that’s for sure—and you do well, I mean, with your breeding at all. I am sure you’re great at breeding—or, I mean, getting the Pokémon to breed. And all.” He took a deep breath, having used up all of the air in his lungs for his little ramble. He looked at Asahi in the eyes now, and felt satisfied in his fresh advance.

            For a moment, the tall breeder said nothing at all. A slight breeze blew through, causing the stray ends of his hair rustle slightly while the rest of him stayed tock still. Noya’s smile kept, but inside he could feel the short-term confidence quickly draining out of him with every second Asahi waited to respond.

            After what was an _agonizingly_ long wait for Noya, Asahi opened his mouth and spoke. “W-would you like to stay for dinner or something?” he asked. “Because I would really like to talk to you more. I think you’re really—um—handsome and cool and pretty and nice.”

            “Y-yes! Of course! Thank you! Yes!” Nishinoya reached forward and wrapped his arms around Asahi, catching him by surprise as he held him close. He stiffened as Noya first closed his arms around him, but relaxed before Noya released. They both laughed short, awkward laughs, but their smiles were genuine.

            Tanaka had rejoined them when Noya let go of Asahi, and looked up at the tall man, eyes wide. “I know we just had breakfast, but did I hear something of _dinner_? I’m _very_ interested.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for reading, and I hope to get a chapter up soon (though definitely after the con)!
> 
> If you need to read something to tide you over during that time, I'd highly reccommend "The Right Thing" by hobbit_hedgehog ==> http://archiveofourown.org/works/7103452/chapters/16140511
> 
> It's a lot of fun with action and fluff and most of your faves. Thanks again!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noya gets the digits. He and Tanaka train hard. Everyone's flustered by the end of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEAH I'm back and what a great time this chapter was! It took me forever to write in tiny chunks at a time but it HAPPENED and it's DONE and I like it a LOT.
> 
> ALSO the first part of "The Power That's Inside" by DisappearingOctopus, another part of the Haikyuu in Hoenn series, was posted today and can I just say it's got me FRICKEN PUMPED for more. I'd highly reccommend it (and you can find it in the same series as this fic!).

Asahi realized only after he had invited the cute trainer and his friend to stay for dinner, and had gone to make sure that all of the Pokémon he had rounded up were really in their pen where he had left them, that he realized it was only a little after ten o’clock in the morning.

He had invited them to dinner, which was a full seven or eight hours away at least. He felt himself completely redden, and wondered immediately how he had made it as far as he had with Nishinoya already.  He’d played it cool as this _beautiful_ man had come into the Daycare, and had tried his best to keep his words coherent while he answered questions he’d asked, but now he wondered if it was all false confidence.  What was he supposed to do for the next four hundred fifty or so minutes before the dinner he had invited them to?  What was he supposed to do when they got to the dinner?  What was his grandmother even making for dinner?  Or was he supposed to be making dinner tonight?  Was he supposed to keep his guests occupied the whole time?

A small beak poked its way into his shin, and Asahi looked down to one of the pidgeys, its large eyes looking up to his.  It let out a squawk.  Asahi knelt down and ruffled the feathers on the top of its head, and it let out a _mmrrr_ of contentment.  He picked it up and tucked it in the crook of his arm, bringing it back to a small nest of hay with the other pidgeys, which all chirped with contentment at the return of their comrade.

He was about to pick up the scraps from where they had all devoured their treats earlier when he noticed a slight weight trying not to be noticed on his back.  He turned around to scan the area of the coop and, noticing that the spinarak was nowhere to be seen, sighed slightly.  “I wonder _where_ that pesky bug could have gone?” he said, knowing _exactly_ where that pesky bug had gone.  He feigned like he was going to check the room again, and, with a quick swipe to his back, grabbed ahold of the small spiderlike Pokémon and held it, squirming, in his hands.  “You weren’t going to hitch a ride back outside _that_ easily,” he said, grinning as he chided the small Pokémon.  He placed it carefully down on the floor.  “I’m going to clean up now, but you’ll have some time out in the yard again later.  When _you all_ —”  He glared around the room at all of the Pokémon now.  “—decide to stop terrorizing our guests.”  None of the Pokémon even faked shame in response.  Asahi sighed and squatted down to pick up the last of the scraps from the floor.

What was he even doing, now?  He had these guests, and he could pretty easily tell that the Ranger was interested in him.  He’d been unable to speak for a moment, and wasn’t that how _he_ felt already?  Asahi felt heat coming into his cheeks again, and took a deep breath to try to regulate his blush.  He just had to keep it together enough to prove that he was cool and funny and relatable—things he knew that he was not, but that he was going to try to project anyway.  These two—both Nishinoya, who was a Pokémon Ranger, and Tanaka, who seemed to be an overgrown youngster—were living lives that were full of adventure and daring, exploring and excitement.  What did he have to offer Nishinoya other than the same daycare, the same thing every day, the same boring life?  He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d been in a Pokémon battle himself.  Not since he was much younger…

What could it be that Nishinoya was even interested in, in him?

* * *

 

“Okay man, don’t freak out.  You’ve got this in the bag.”

“You think so?”

“Hell yeah.  I mean, look at the way he invited you right away for dinner.  That’s a commitment.”

“Yeah,” said Noya, “but he invited you, too.”

“What, was he going to leave me outside, waiting around?”  He held a hand out as if giving a soliloquy.  “I’m a pretty-good looking member of this party, too!  And by having me and, presumably, the grandma inside, you two get a nice little awkward-buffer from each other.”

“We both have someone we’re already comfortable with.”

“Bro, you’re comfortable with me?”

“Um… yes?”

Tanaka pumped his fist and grinned.   “Yes!  That means it’s working.  Bro?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re going to get with this guy if it’s the last thing I do.”

Noya raised an eyebrow.  He was about to speak when Tanaka cut him off.

“No need to thank me.”  He closed his eyes and held a hand over his heart in mock humility.  “I am here to be the best wingman you could ever ask for.”

“Thanks,” said Noya, “and I appreciate it, because it would be awkward without someone I didn’t already know.  But I didn’t ask for it.”

“Yeah,” said Tanaka, “that’s what makes me so nice.”

Noya was about to retort when Tanaka pointed, and he turned to see Asahi returning from the little coop on the back of the building.  Noya couldn’t stop his face from pulling back into a smile, though he wanted desperately to keep a cool demeanor.

“Thanks for waiting,” said Asahi, tucking a stray strand of hair back into his bandana, fidgeting with his hand for a moment, and letting them fall to his sides.  “The Pokémon here can get a little—feisty.”  He cast a glance at Tanaka, who rubbed his hand where it had been pecked.

They stood there for a moment, all looking at each other, and after a few seconds of awkward silence, Nishinoya realized that it was his turn to say something.  “Asahi, I appreciate your offer of dinner, and I know that I’d be more than excited to have a meal and spend of some time with you.”  He paused, and then continued, speaking a bit quicker than before.  “And, of course, Tanaka and your grandmother, as well, I mean.”  He resisted the urge to bury his face in his jacket and tried to just keep talking.  “I really appreciate you showing us around and, well, we’re going to have to go and train and stuff, but I can’t wait to spend dinnertime with you…”

“I understand,” said Asahi.  “W-would you like to have my PokéNav contact info?”  He stopped short and backpedaled.  “I mean, so that I can tell you when to come back, for, um, dinner…”  He pulled his device from his pocket.  He had hardly even revealed it before Nishinoya swiped it from his hand and was tapping away at the screen.

“I’m putting in my info,” said Nishinoya.  “Aaaaand…”  He tapped one last button with a flourish, handing the device back to Asahi.  “…I send a message to mine, so that we’ll have each other’s information!”

“Thank you,” said Asahi, holding his PokéNav in his hands awkwardly for a moment or two before returning it to his pocket below his apron. 

They stood there, facing each other, both with their hands awkwardly by their sides, trying not to be too obvious about how nervous they were, talking to each other.  Nishinoya opened his mouth to say— _something_ —but Tanaka stepped in before he could make a fool of himself.

“ _Anyway_ ,” he said, “we’ve got some training slated for today, and we don’t want all of the bug catchers to chase away anything we might be able to use to our own advantage.”  He threw an arm over Nishinoya’s shoulders and grinned.  He looked to Noya.  “ _Do we_?”

“Yeah, um, no, we had better get… going.”  He turned to Asahi.  “I look forward to your message!”  Tanaka had him by the hand, pulling him away.  Noya looked back as he was being dragged forward.  “Seriously!  I’ll reply!  Nice to meet you!  You’re pretty—”

Asahi missed the end of that last comment as Noya was dragged through the gate at the far end of the yard, back toward the road.  He wasn’t sure if there was supposed to be another adjective at the end, if it was “You’re pretty nice,” or “you’re pretty good at taking care of Pokémon” or “you’re pretty interesting,” or if it was just that he was pretty.  He didn’t want to flatter himself too much, assuming it was one or the other of any of them, but whatever Nishinoya had been meaning to say, Asahi was sure he had similar rebuttals.

However, he was gone already, and he was left waving and smiling at nothing in particular.

* * *

 

Text Conversation: Azumane Asahi

> Azumane Asahi: So… This is my number.  
>  Nishinoya Yuu: that didnt take long  
>  A: Oh! I mean, you wanted it, right…?  
>  N: jk jk its all good  
>  N: srry for just barging in earlier 2day  
>  N: hope we didnt screw stuff up for u  
>  A: No! It was really great to meet you.  
>  A: I can’t wait to see you again for dinner tonight.  
>  N: neither can i ;0

 

“Who’re you talking to?” asked Tanaka, peering over Nishinoya’s shoulder at his PokéNav.

“Who do you think?”

“Well,” said Tanaka, backing off from Noya, “I hope you’re a _little_ smoother in your messages than you were in person.  It was all like…”  He assumed the position of Asahi, standing on his toes to seem taller.  “Hello I am a shy breeder and I have _arms_.”  He squatted down and pretended to slick back his hair, assuming Noya’s role.  “I-I-I’m N-N-Noya and I want to k-k-kiss your face and _arms_.”

Noya shoved him over from his squat, and the charade was ended.  “I got his number, didn’t I?  And a date.”

Tanaka lifted himself up from the ground and brushed himself off.  “You gave _your_ number.”  He straightened back up.  “And your ‘date’ has two chaperones.”

“And I couldn’t have made that progress without such a _great_ wingman.”

Tanaka raised an eyebrow.  “Well, I mean, I guess you _did_ do pretty well.  All with my help, of course.”

Nishinoya grinned at Tanaka’s change of heart and turned his attention back to the PokéNav, where a new message was waiting for him.

 

> A: So… tell me about yourself.

 

Nishinoya reddened, his heart thumping a little louder than normal as he typed a response.  _He_ wanted to know more about him?

 

> N: i like pkmn, and I want 2 help them and i wanna be the best. and i like waking up early and eating most kinds of meat!!

 

He realized the double entendre in his last statement only after he had sent the message, but it was too late.  He didn’t have time to dwell on it, either, because at that moment, a loudred meandered out from the tall grass and set its eyes on the pair of trainers.  It let out a loud, low screech, which scattered some of the bird Pokémon that were perched in the trees above.  In an instant, both Tanaka and Nishinoya had brought out their Pokémon to battle it, Sawk and Pawniard emerging from their pokéballs in fighting stances.

The loudred, though slightly smaller than the species usually presented, was something they didn’t want to mess around with, and with a silent nod to one another, neither trainer wasted any time in engaging it in battle.  They both knew that the sound-based attacks it could produce could be devastating to both their Pokémon and to themselves were they to allow the battle to go on for too long.

“Double kick!” shouted Ryu, and his sawk leapt into action.

Nishinoya followed with a command to his Pokémon: “Fury cutter!”

Both of the Pokémon rushed the loudred at once.  It did not even get a chance to bellow—in a flurrying windmill kick, Sawk struck the wild Pokémon high with its right foot and its left foot in quick succession.  At the same time, Pawniard attacked low with a barrage of cuts and slices from its bladelike appendages on its arms.

The loudred tried to hold back the two attacking Pokémon, but wasn’t able to really fight back until their attacks died down and they landed back into their fighting stances.  As soon as they relented, however, the loudred was able to re-center itself and let out a shout that knocked both trainers and their Pokémon into the grass.  The branches of the trees around them waved back in the wake of the yell, and Noya gritted his teeth while Tanaka put his hands over his ears.  Pawniard dug its blade-arms into the ground, pinning it there while the percussive force pushed back at it, and Sawk planted its feet and closed its eyes in a stoic but strong position, once it at struggled back into a stance.

After what seemed to be longer than it actually could have been, the loudred stopped with its auditory attack.  Both trainers popped back to their feet, and Noya’s ears popped as he did.  “Pawniard, feint attack!”  The Pokémon crouched down before launching itself forward, just in front of its enemy.  The loudred, standing more than twice as tall as the pawniard, began to swipe at the smaller Pokémon, but Pawniard leapt upward and slashed at its face before backing off.  The loudred groped at the place between its eyes, where the pawniard had obviously made a mark.

Noya turned to Tanaka, expecting him to have already commanded his sawk to have made a move.  However, the other trainer had his pinkie finger stuck into one ear, his face contorted.  “Ah!” he said.  “Eeeeeehhh…”

“What are you doing?”

“I CAN’T POP MY EARS!” said Tanaka, shouting semi-unintentionally.

“You need to attack, or should I?”

“WHAT?”

The loudred wasn’t looking to wait any longer to be attacked again, and stopped rubbing at the place where Pawniard had attacked it.  Sawk had turned around, concerned with its trainer, but the loudred came at it from behind, charging forward with a shoulder lowered.  Nishinoya called out to his Pokémon.

“Pawniard!”

The Pokémon didn’t need to be called twice.  It leapt forward with great speed and slashed its blades a the loudred, but it didn’t have the strength or momentum to stop or even stall the loudred, which in the next instant barreled into the sawk, sending it backward onto the ground next to Tanaka.

Ryu, who hadn’t been paying attention to the battle in an effort to get his ears working normally again, leapt a few feet in the air when his Pokémon came crashing down next to him.

“Pawniard, use torment!”  Nishinoya pulled Tanaka backward as he yelled his command, and Sawk got back to its feet.  Pawniard let out a small screech of aggression, and the loudred turned toward it.  It sharpened its arm blades against each other and narrowed its eyes, tilting its helmet-like head downward.

The loudred turned its attention from the sawk to the pawniard, and began to stomp toward it.  Tanaka, who had regained himself enough to at least be a part of the battle, half-shouted his next command: “Sawk!  Low sweep!”

The Pokémon didn’t hesitate a second, shooting its long leg out and knocking the loudred’s short legs out from under it, sending it down to the grass-covered ground on its back.   This caused a loud _thump_ as the beast hit the ground and air was pushed out of its lungs.

The two trainers each took a step forward, and peered closer to see that the wild Pokémon had really fainted.  When they saw it had, they turned to each other and slapped a high-five.

“That was awesome,” said Noya, holding out his hand to high-five his pawniard briefly before realizing his mistake.  He withdrew his hand and nodded toward it in approval before returning its pokéball.

“What?” replied Tanaka, who was fist bumping an unwilling and stone-faced sawk before returning it to its ball as well.

“Dude, just yawn or something.  They’ll pop.”

“What?”

Noya shook his head and turned to this PokéNav, which held a few unread messages.  He stepped around the fainted Pokémon to check it as Tanaka sprayed a potion on the loudred, so it would wake up somewhat healed from its encounter.

 

> A: You sound like you know how to have fun!  And I’ll make sure we have something made of meat at dinner.  My grandmother makes great food, I promise.  
>  A: I don’t know if I could wake up early like you do, though, I need to get a lot of sleep!  
>  A: I still love that you like to help Pokémon, because that’s really my passion, as well.  Keeping them safe and making sure they’re healthy is a great thing to do!  
>  A: I hope I’m not messaging you too much.  Let me know if it is, I’m sorry!

 

Noya smiled.  He tapped quickly at the screen as Tanaka caught up with him.

“Okay,” said Tanka, “what’s next?”  They looked at the sea of tall grass ahead of them, a seemingly endless expanse all the way down Route 117 to Verdanturf.

“Bro,” said Nishinoya, beaming upward at his partner, “what isn’t?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! And I had a wicked good time at ConnectiCon and took pics with/met a ton of cool Haikyuu people!!! I was the tallest Nishinoya there!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for not only more of this but more parts to the Haikyuu in Hoenn series!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! Thanks so much for sticking with this, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Just throwing it out there, this story DOES interconnect a heck of a lot with the other stories in the Haikyuu in Hoenn series, so be sure to check them out, as well! They're all super fun as well!

            Both Nishinoya and Tanaka were breathing hard from their last Pokémon encounter when Noya’s PokéNav lit up with an incoming call.  He fished it out of his pocket, glanced at the name on the screen, and thumbed to accept the call.  A flustered man with squarish glasses filled the screen, his face flushed.

            “Ranger Yuu?” he asked, squinting into what must have been his PokéNav screen.

            “Yes, hello, Takeda,” said Nishinoya, wiping some sweat from his forehead.  “Can you hear me?”

The man on his screen lifted his glasses to squint at his screen even closer before letting them fall back down onto his nose.  “Oh!  I see you now!  Sorry, I—”  He cleared his throat.  “Just calling for an update.  Where are you now?”

            Nishinoya grinned.  “I’m actually on Route 117 now.  I was going to check in at the Verdanturf Ranger Station…”

            “No need!” said Takeda, grinning.  “I actually need someone in your region!”

            “Oh?” asked Noya, raising an eyebrow and using his hand unoccupied with holding his PokéNav to try to push a very nosy Ryu Tanaka away.

            “There have been some… weird things going on to the northeast of where you are,” said Takeda, his face turning serious.  “We’re not really sure _what_ ’s going on, but there has been a marked uptick in sandstorms lately.”

            “You’re talking about the deserts off of Route 111?” asked Nishinoya.

            “Yes,” replied Takeda.  “And if the sandstorms were contained to that area, we wouldn’t be concerned.  However, the storms have been encroaching on other areas, bringing native desert Pokémon with them.  When the storms die down…”

            “… the Pokémon are left behind?” Nishinoya guessed.

            “Exactly,” said Takeda.  “None of the weather projections from the Weather Institute indicate that this is natural.”

            Nishinoya pushed his palm against Tanaka’s grumbling face as he tried to get in the PokéNav’s field of view.  “So you’re saying that these sandstorms are being caused by either Pokémon or people?”

            “That’s exactly it, and that’s why I want you to go and find out who or what is causing this, so that we can deal with it appropriately.”

            “We’ll take care of it,” said Noya, saluting his superior on the PokéNav.

            “We?”

            “Oh!” said Noya as Tanaka broke through his push-back.

            “Hey!” shouted Tanaka, too-loud, to the PokéNav.

            “Who is that?” asked Takeda, finger in his ear after the burst of sound.

            “Ryunosuke Tanaka,” said Tanaka, beaming.  “I’ve teamed up with Noya, you see, so we can conquer whatever stuff you throw at us.”

            “… Okay,” said Takeda over the PokéNav.  He directed his attention to Nishinoya.  “Yuu, I know you’re a good trainer, and you’ve got a lot of ambition, but be careful on this one.  Find out what we’re dealing with, and report back.  Safely.”

            Nishinoya nodded, and Takeda hung up the call.  Noya put the PokéNav back in his pocket.

            “What, are you embarrassed to introduce me to your boss or something?” asked Tanaka, getting his face incredibly close to Noya’s as he interrogated him.

            “No,” said Noya, “but I sort of—I don’t know—want to prove that I can do this job for more than just routine patrols.  I want to, you know, be the _best_.”

            “Yeah, bro.”

            “But I don’t know what they’ll think if I need someone else with me to do that, you know?”  He looked up at Tanaka, and for the first time Tanaka realized how very _small_ he really was.  He probably had to prove himself like this all of the time, considering his stature.  Without his cool and confident attitude, he _did_ almost look like a child.  “So that’s why.  Sorry.”

            “Bro…”  Tanaka’s word fell as he said it, and he scrambled for the right thing to say.  “You don’t _need_ anyone.  But like, that doesn’t mean you can’t _have_ someone there, anyway.  I’m here to help you, you’re here to help me.  We’re both the greatest, that’s a fact.  On our own.  We’re just combining to be the best together.”

            “Bro…”  That was all he said, and he threw his arms around the oversized Youngster, pulling him into a tight hug.  Tanaka hugged him back, and they, after the feelings had been properly felt, separated.  “But, before all of that,” said Tanaka, “you’ve got something even scarier.”

            “Yeah?”

            “You’ve got a date with that hot breeder.”

            Nishinoya blushed, despite himself.  “That’s going to be a piece of cake,” he said as he turned back toward Mauville.  He paused, holding his position.  “Wait.  What time were we supposed to be there for dinner?”  Tanaka glanced down to the time displayed on the screen of his PokéNav.

            “Really soon,” said Tanaka.

            “We’re going to be late,” said Noya, his face falling.

            “ _Fashionably_ late,” said Tanaka, beginning back toward the Day Care.

            “And every second we waste is another we’re late.”

            “Right, then,” said Tanaka, and they moved together, walking briskly.  He said nothing for a moment, and then: “Are you sure you’re not nervous or anything?”

            Nishinoya could feel the knot of nervousness in his stomach, but he shook his head.  “You’ve got nothing to worry about if you’ve got smooth moves like _mine_.”

            “Man, he’ll be weak for them.”

            “I’ll hit him with one of _these_.”  Nishinoya shot an overblown smolder toward Tanaka, who thumbed-up.  Noya, not paying attention to where he was going, almost fell face-first over a log.  Tanaka offered more laughter than support as Noya scrambled back to his feet, and they were off, back to the dinner awaiting them.

* * *

            To say that Asahi was the type to worry was an understatement.  His friends were always quick to point it out to him.  Daichi, when he stopped by on his hikes, would actually attempt to leech the worry out of him. That never worked, because then Asahi worried about the burden of whatever worry Daichi had tried to take on for him, and the cycle continued.  Another of his friends, Suga, had actually tried to _smack_ the worry out of him on more than one occasion.

            Neither of them were here now—though, he realized, they might actually be together, since Daichi was staying with Suga in Slateport, and _oh_ , he hoped they got along—and they were not there to pull him out of his worrying spiral.  His grandmother was cooking a dinner, and told him to get out of the kitchen and her way when he had tried to chop vegetables with two shaky hands.

            He had set the table about four different times, just to give him something to do with his hands.  He wondered what he would talk about with his guests.  He worried that he wouldn’t be interesting enough—sure, his _friends_ tolerated him, but they were already friends and they _had_ to.  And now?  He didn’t know what to _do_ , and…

            “When are your tasty little friends getting here?” asked his grandmother, entering the room with a big pot held out in front of her, held with a large oven mitt on each hand.

            “ _T-tasty_?”

            “That little one has quite the toush.”

            “Dear _God_ , grandma.”

            “Pichu noticed, too.”  She placed the pot down on the table.  The pichu, sitting on one of the chairs, climbed up to the table and scurried up her arm to her shoulder, where it nuzzled into her cheek.

            “Pichu—your lecherous gaze brings me nothing but pain.”  Asahi maintained an intense eye contact with the tiny Pokémon before it let out a yawn and looked away.  Asahi felt his arms fall down and his shoulders slump.  “I don’t know when they’re showing up.”  He pulled out his PokéNav.  “They said they’d be here around… now.”

            “Well, they aren’t,” said his grandmother, pulling her oven mitts off and placing them on the table next to the pot.  She pulled the pichu down from her shoulder and nestled it in the crook of her arm.

            “I’ll send a message to Noya…”

            “That’s the Ranger, right?”

            “Um, yeah,” said Asahi, halfway through his message.

            “Good.  You can have him.  I want to climb that bald boy like you wouldn’t believe.”

            Asahi spit a nonexistent mouthful of the water across the room as his grandmother shuffled out of it, muttering something about an aipom shimmying up an Alolan exeggutor.

* * *

 

A: Hey, I don’t mean to pressure or rush you or anything, but are you almost here for dinner?  
N: yeah we got caught up w/ some wild pkmn more than we thought  
N: lol  
N: well be there soon srry  
N: cant wait!!!  
N: >:3!!!

* * *

 

            Night had definitely fallen by the time Nishinoya and Tanaka arrived at the Pokémon Day Care again, panting slightly due to the jogging they had done on the last stretch of their journey.  Neither would admit or vocalize it, but it had turned into a race at the end there.  Neither would say it, but both of them thought that _they_ were the one who won.

            The lights on in the windows of the Day Care reminded them _why_ they had rushed there.  The two of them rushed to the top of the short incline, Noya knocking on the door more than a little too enthusiastically once they reached it.  After a _very_ brief moment, a tall, handsome, and nervous breeder opened the door for them.

            “Hi!” said Noya.  Tanaka grinned.  “Sorry we’re here so late, we, uh…”

            “We got hung up with a small flock of swellows after _accidentally_ battling—and kicking the ass of—a tailow…”  Tanaka trailed off, his lip sticking out in a half-pout.  He crossed his heavily scratched arms, and Nishinoya grinned.

            “Oh, yeah, come in.  We were, uh, waiting for you.”  Asahi stood back to let the trainers into the Day Care.

            They moved past him, kicking off their dirty shoes as they did.  Asahi shut the door and led them back toward the dining room.  Nishinoya was chatting about the Pokémon they’d seen that day, Asahi growing redder when he heard what a keen and intense interest Noya had in Pokémon and the way they lived.  He was especially cute when he talked about this, something he was so passionate about.

            When they entered the dining room, Asahi’s grandmother looked up from the book she was reading at the head of the table and threw her hands up in the air.  “About damn time you showed up!”  The pichu, asleep in a chair to the side of the room looked up with half-lidded eyes at the outburst, and tucked its head back down, finding that the outburst was not directed toward it.

            “I’m terribly sorry,” said Nishinoya, bowing slightly.  “We were caught up, and…”

            “Well, you’re here now, and you need to _eat_.”  She poked at Tanaka’s stomach.  “You’re going to wither away.  You’re so small, the both of you.”  She turned to her grandson.  “Asahi, we need to feed them.”

            “Y-yes, grandma…”  Asahi slipped out to the kitchen while Nishinoya and Tanaka sat in the places as pointed out to them by the matriarch.

            Asahi returned shortly with a salad and some rolls, placing them on the table and taking his place opposite his grandmother.  She closed her eyes and bowed her head, fingers clasped together, for a moment, and looked up again.  “Okay,” she said, “let’s eat now, before this all gets cold.”

            Tanaka wasted no time in obeying, digging into the stew and chatting lightly with Grandma Azumane.  Noya was hungry and gulped down a few spoonfuls before turning to Asahi.  He grinned, was conscious of a glob of stew on his chin, and dabbed at it with a napkin.

            “This is so good.”

            “Yeah, my grandma puts care into what she does.”

            “Into _everything_.  I can tell,” said Nishinoya.  “I mean, this Day Care—it can’t be easy to run, just the two of you.”

            “Well, yeah,” said Asahi, rubbing at the back of his head.  “I mean, it’s a lot of work, but it’s all fun and worthwhile, really.  When you see the Pokémon…”

            Nishinoya noticed he was staring at Asahi and averted his eyes quickly.  He put a spoonful of food in his mouth and began to speak before he had swallowed.  “You are really—”  He swallowed.  “It’s very cute how you take care of them.  The Pokémon.”

            Asahi reddened.  “O-oh…”

            “I mean, you care so much, and it’s obvious the Pokémon like you, too, and…”

            “Thank you,” said Asahi, completely red now, shutting him down before he could go on.  “So, um, where are you from?”

            “I’m from Rustboro.  Other side of the tunnel and all.”  He shrugged.  “It’s a cool place, but it’s—I don’t know.”

            “You had to get away?”

            “Yeah!”  Nishinoya stirred at his stew a bit with his spoon.  “It is a great place, but I wanted to get out and meet new Pokémon and do new things…”  He paused.  “So I had to get out and move around to do that.  What about you?”

            “Oh!  I’m from Lilycove, originally.  But when I came to live with my grandma, I had to move.”  He shrugged.  “I like it here, even if the air doesn’t smell like the salt from the ocean breeze.  It’s pretty, and perfect for the Pokémon.”

            Noya cocked his head to the side, staring at Asahi.  He was happy where he was, and he was happy doing what he was doing—the same end-goal of helping Pokémon, like Nishinoya—but with a much different method that Noya was sure would drive him crazy, staying in the same spot as he did.

            That didn’t stop Nishinoya from wanting to dive into his deep brown eyes, nestle under his chin and stay cuddled there, held by the breeder’s strong arms, for as long as he could hold him.

            Asahi was saying something, and he hadn’t been listening.  He had been too busy daydreaming about what it would be like to press up against his broad chest and feel his soft skin…

            “…and my grandma was okay with it, so, yeah.  That’s how I got my Pokémon team.”

            Noya froze, had to make it seem like he had been listening and not actually zoning out.  “Oh, wow!” he said in what sounded like unconvincing feigned interest.

            Nailed it.

            Asahi raised an eyebrow.  “Yeah, I mean, I didn’t need to catch my own Pokémon if these others were left alone—they needed homes and love, too, and… well, I could be that person.”

            Nishinoya’s heart absolutely melted.

            “And what about _you_?”  Asahi’s grandmother broke into their conversation.  “What sort of things do you plan to do with my grandson?”

            Noya felt his face flush completely.  “Oh, well…”  He cleared his throat and made it a point not to look at a stiffened Asahi or the snickering Tanaka.  “I assure you, your grandson is handsome, and I have only the purest intentions.”

            Asahi’s grandmother shrugged and laid her hands out on the table in front of her.  “Well, be careful with him.  He’s fragile.”

            Tanaka burst into full-on laughter then, and Noya was very sure he could sense Asahi’s soul vacating his body completely.  Noya managed a small nod and brought his cup of water to his lips, taking a long sip and averting his eyes even as Tanaka burst into another bout of laughter when Grandma Azumane said something about an aipom.

* * *

 

            After dinner, Tanaka offered to help do the dishes instead of Asahi.  Nishinoya shot him a thumbs-up, and Tanaka responded with a wink and a finger-pinch “OK” before Asahi’s grandmother smacked his butt in an effort to get him moving into the kitchen.  His mouth when into an O, and he allowed himself to be herded in.

            Noya followed Asahi out to the yard, where he released his Pokémon from their balls to stretch, mingle, and play.  Asahi pulled some pokéballs from his apron pocket and released his own team to enjoy the evening the yard.  His eevee and zoura found it fun to poke and play with Shuckle, and Pawniard, Scraggy, and Asahi’s nidoran—of the blue-skinned female variety—chased each other in circles, the scraggy tripping every so often over its semi-shed skin.  Asahi’s dratini and buizel both found their way to the small pond in the corner of the yard, but his kangaskhan was more than willing to entertain the tiny electric mouse that scurried over it.

            Asahi led Nishinoya to a small rock outcropping that overlooked the rest of the yard, and they sat there together in the clear, starry night.  The bright lights of Mauville shone off to the east, but they were not enough to block out the dazzling stars in the sky, not on this night.  They were quiet together, staring upward, for a while, and it was only broken when Asahi found he had not been staring at the stars directly, but the way they reflected in Nishinoya’s eyes.

            “Um, so, uh, what are you doing next?”

            “Hm?”  Nishinoya’s eyes met with Asahi’s.  “Oh, we’re headed to Route 111.  Apparently something weird has been going on with the weather patterns there, and they think it might have something to do with a Pokémon.”

            “What, like castform?  Isn’t that more the Weather Institute’s job?”

            “Yeah, but I think it’s something more than that.”  Noya paused.  “For a Pokémon to be regularly interfering with the weather like this, causing sandstorms, displacing another Pokémon—something has to be going _wrong_.  I’m going to find out what it is, and fix it.”

            “Do you think this might be caused by people?” asked Asahi, his brows parting to make his eyes seem bigger, concerned.

            “Maybe,” said Noya.  He looked down.  “I hope not.  I hope we’re able to figure it out.”

            “You will!” said Asahi, with more enthusiasm then he expected from himself.  “I mean, you’re going to.”  He smiled, his eyes shutting slightly, his head tilted to the side.  “And whatever you do—whatever Pokémon is causing this—take it easy on them.  Something’s got to be bothering it.  Be compassionate.”  He let that smile, with what might have been a hint of sadness behind it, linger.  Nishinoya smiled back, all teeth and glow, even in the pale starlight.

            It wasn’t until then that either of them noticed the way their hands had found their way together, fingers entwined against the rocky outcrop.

            They looked to each other now, and, eyes locked, questioned to themselves about how they should proceed.  Nishinoya wanted to say _something_ , to let him know how he felt, and Asahi needed to _say_ something for the boy with the stars in his eyes.

            “Can I—”

            “You are—”

            “Sorry.”  Asahi looked down.  Noya reached over with his hand that wasn’t holding Asahi’s and lifted up his head, his index finger curled under the goatee on his chin.  He smiled a small smile to counteract the embarrassment on Asahi’s face.

            “Can I?”

            Asahi nodded, his chin still in Noya’s hand.

            Noya leaned forward, eyes closed.  Asahi closed his own.

            Their lips met.  Their fingers remained entwined, and so, it seemed, did their lives.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nishinoya and Tanaka leave the Pokemon Day Care behind and find themselves faced with an interesting character on their way to the desert.

Mercifully, neither Tanaka nor Grandma Azumane were waiting for them when they returned to the Pokémon Day Care.  Asahi bent over to peck Noya on the cheek before pointing him to the guest room and disappearing into his own.

            Noya fell back onto his sleeping bag, not bothering to crawl inside.  Ryu had taken the bed, and that was fine.  He was either asleep or pretending to be, and that was fine, too, because that way he wouldn’t see that Noya’s face was so red it practically _glowed_ in the darkness.

            He stared at the ceiling for a long while, the scant light from the window crating patterns and swirls with the subtle movements of the wind and the leaves in the trees, patterns that seemed to somehow always make their way back to the shape of _Asahi_ —his face, his chest, his arms…

            Nishinoya didn’t think that he would be falling asleep that night.  Every time he got close, his mind would turn over with images of Asahi and his heart would swell again.

            At some point, however, those swirls were replaced with darkness, and he slept.

* * *

 

            Grandma Azumane knew how to cook one hell of a breakfast, the offerings better fitted for a hotel’s continental breakfast buffet than to a small kitchen for two guests.  She had checked on Nishinoya and Tanaka after sending Asahi out to feed the Pokémon in the stables and hutches.  She’d been surprised to see Nishinoya dressed, ready to go, and rolling up his sleeping bag for his pack.  She was unsurprised to see the bald one with the nice body still just rolling out of bed.

            Asahi returned after barely being able to place down food dishes for a few Nidorans before having them nearly knocked out of his hands to find his guests and grandmother already eating.  Both Nishinoya and Tanaka were stuffing their faces with huge helpings of nearly everything on the table, and his grandmother was feeding bits of toast to Pichu, who was settled in her lap, its pointed ears peeking over the edge of the table.  He made eye contact with Nishinoya, who grinned even though his mouth was full of food, and Asahi could already feel himself reddening.

            “Good morning,” said his grandmother.  Asahi took the free space at the table next to her, and she pushed a plate of food toward him.  “Eat that.  I don’t need you wasting away.”  Asahi glanced down at the plate.  His grandmother had piled it high with at least two servings of everything.

            “Thanks,” he said.  He looked from the plate to Nishinoya, and his stomach flopped over.  He was _not_ going to be able to eat all of that food, not when he was _this_ nervous, not in the aftermath of the night before—

            It had been a great night.  They had talked.  They had kissed.  They had talked more, and, of course, kissed some more.  And Asahi had been replaying every minute of what had happened in his head since then, a loop of good things he didn’t want to mess up with the wrong move or too much worrying.

            “We’re going to head right out after breakfast,” said Nishinoya after a moment, glancing to Grandma Azumane and then to Asahi, where his eyes stayed.  “There’s something pretty big going on, and we really shouldn’t put off getting to it.”

            Asahi’s heart fell.  Nishinoya was leaving—he _knew_ he would be, he told him the night before, but still—they’d spoken about how Noya couldn’t stay in one place for any long amount of time—but he _just_ met him.  He wanted _more_ of him…

            “I’m sure you’ll stay safe,” said Grandma Azumane, a command more than an observation, and Asahi could have sworn her eyes flitted to him before settling on the visitors.

            “Hopefully, whatever’s out there will be safe from _us_!” said Ryu, his mouth full of a little bit of everything.  Asahi recoiled slightly.

            “I’m sure you make lots of things… vulnerable…”  Grandma Azumane lowered her voice as she spoke, in a tone that was probably sultry forty years ago.  Asahi shot her a glare.  She pretended not to notice her grandson.

            “That being said, we really appreciate your hospitality,” said Noya, gesturing to the feast of food on the table.  Asahi smiled a nervous smile, realizing that he was going to be the one to clean up after this meal _on top_ of Nishinoya leaving.

            “And from what I take it, my grandson was more than hospitable for you last night?”

            Asahi almost spit out his mouthful of orange juice, and it was Nishinoya’s turn to go completely red.  Tanaka was mid-laugh when he started to choke on a bit of his food, pounding on his chest to dislodge the half-chewed mound of breakfast.  Nishinoya decidedly did not move to assist him.  He coughed it up after a moment, and Nishinoya stammered out a response to the inquiry.

            “Yes—I-I mean, he _did_ , that is…”

            Tanaka broke in.  “Yo, G-ma, you got to understand that Noya can’t kiss and tell, even if it _is_ your grandson.”  He threw an arm around Noya’s shoulders and grinned.  “I’m sure you understand.”

            She grinned a sly, devious smile.  “Oh,” she said, “I do.”  She winked, and Asahi felt his face become red again.  Tanaka had _tried_ to do the right thing, but he’d just _told_ Grandma Azumane exactly what he said he wouldn’t _in_ saying he wouldn’t.

            Pichu purred and pawed upward at Grandma Azumane’s hand, and she huffed.  “Pichu!” she said.  “I’m trying to embarrass my grandson here!  This is not the time.”  Pichu growled, but it was so small that its growl wasn’t more than an angry vibration.  Its owner _tsk_ ed and fed it another bite of toast.

            “Look at them blushing!” said Tanaka, laughing.

            “I am _not_!” said Nishinoya, his face somehow getting brighter.

            “I could fry an egg on your cheeks, you’re burning up so much,” said Grandma Azumane.  Pichu chirped in agreement.

            “Though I don’t think that red mark on your _neck_ is from blushing…”  His index finger jutted at Asahi, who clapped both hands around his neck immediately, as if he were choking himself.

            “Watch what you’re saying there, baldy,” said Grandma Azumane, wagging her bony finger at Tanaka.  “That’s my grandson you’re talking about!”

            Asahi shrunk in his seat and Noya found his time to laugh.  Asahi hadn’t lost any of the color to his face, but slowly let his hands down from his neck, relaxing.  Though his grandmother teased him, she loved him very much.  And though her main hobby, besides reading trashy romance novels aloud to her baby Pokémon and oogling men much younger than her, was embarrassing her grandson, she was still there to protect him—she had always been there.

            Watching her as she joked and laughed with their guests over breakfast, Asahi wondered how much of his tendency to stay home, stay where he was comfortable, was due to his grandmother.  Her constant and sturdy presence was an anchor in his life, and she was, though in her own quirky way, the most important source of care, love, and support he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing.  He was more than happy and content to remain where he was and reciprocate that.

            _Besides_ , he though, looking to and locking eyes with Nishinoya across the table, who flashed him a grin, _where the adventurers pass through, I get to meet some very special people_.  For that, he wouldn’t trade anything at all.

* * *

 

            The two trainers departed not long after breakfast.  They had said their good-byes, and Grandma Azumane took advantage of her height difference with Tanaka to grab his butt doing their uncomfortably long goodbye hug.  Asahi leaned down and pecked Noya on the cheek for a goodbye.  Nishinoya decided immediately that it wouldn’t be enough and jumped upward to clutch Asahi’s face and bring it down to his level, where he plastered his lips on the breeder’s and held it there for a few more seconds than Asahi had expected.

            When they separated, Tanaka gave him an impressed nod and Grandma Azumane wore a toothy grin.  “Call me,” said Noya as he and Tanaka started back toward Mauville, and Asahi blew him a kiss as soon as his grandmother had turned around, back toward the Day Care.  Noya caught the kiss in an invisible pokéball and stored it on his belt next to the others.

            Tanaka waited until they were a little way away from the Pokémon Day Care to let out a _whoop_ and high-five his partner.  “Frickin’ _nice_ , man!” he said.

            “Dude, he is so perfect.”

            “Hell yeah,” said Tanaka, grinning.  A short silence between them, and then: “Did his grandma grab my butt?”

            It was Nishinoya’s turn to break down in laughter, barely stumbling along the path as he did.  Tanaka rolled his eyes and pushed him along to keep him from completely breaking down on the road.

* * *

 

            The Pokémon Center in Mauville was crammed _full_ of people.  They all seemed to be talking at once, making such a cacophony that Nishinoya had a hard time hearing Tanaka when he spoke.  “Let’s heal and get going—this place is a zoo.”

            Noya nodded and they worked their way through the crowd, toward the counter.  When they got close, they found themselves at the end of an actual line, waiting for the overworked and rushing nurses to heal their Pokémon.

            A TV screen on the wall to the side of the counter caught Tanaka’s eyes. And he nudged Noya, pointing to the screen.  “Doesn’t that seem familiar?”

            The TV showed a news report, a scene of destruction in Rustboro City.  Water Pokémon were stranded on the paved streets, flopping about as disaster workers attempted to round them up and get them back toward the ocean.  The report cut to a news anchor, whose words were conveyed through the closed captions to Tanaka and Nishinoya.

            “Disaster struck yesterday in a freak tidal wave that flooded Rustboro City, causing an estimated five billion pokécoins worth of damage, as well as displacing hundreds of water-type Pokémon without any routes back to their natural habitats.  While the relief efforts have been underway in full force since the wave, officials are unsure how long it will take for the damage cleanup to complete.  The local police have—”

            Nishinoya turned to Tanaka.  “Do you think that might have something to do with what’s going on in the desert?”

            Tanaka shrugged.  “I dunno.”

            “It seems suspicious, though,” said Nishinoya.  “Two unprecedented weather events at the same time, and there’s no way that looks natural, what happened in Rustboro…”

            “You’re saying there’s some foul play.”

            “Probably,” said Noya.  They moved forward in line a bit more.  They both looked back to the televisions, where the anchor was finishing their report.  “…have no comment on the connection between this event and the recent increase in gang-related crime around Hoenn.  If one would like to contribute to the relief effort, dial the number you can now see on the bottom of your screen…”

            “Next,” called the nurse at the counter, and the pair scrambled forward to deposit their pokéballs in the trays for her.  Tanaka gave her a wide grin and a wink, but the nurse was having a busy enough day as it was and used her best defense—she ignored him.

            He shrank a bit as she walked away with their pokéballs.  “She was almost totally into me,” he said.  Noya, who hadn’t really been paying attention, nodded enthusiastically to make it seem like he had.

            “Oh yeah, for sure.”

            The TV cut to commercial and they were halfway through a colorful ad for a new poképuff bakery when the nurse returned with their Pokémon.  “Thanks for using the Pokémon Center,” she said with a slight bow of her head.  “We hope to see you again soon!”  She had dashed back to do something else behind the counter before Tanaka had the opportunity to put any more moves on her, and he slumped more as they exited the crowded Pokémon Center.  They began walking toward the northern part of the city.  “I don’t know how I’m ever going to catch a lady,” said Tanaka.

            “What, bro?” said Noya, stretching out his arms as he walked.  “You could get any girl you wanted.”

            “I don’t know,” said Tanaka, “that last one didn’t seem interested, so I don’t know what’s up with my _game_ …”

            “Dude, she was just busy.”  Noya gave him a playful punch on the arm.  “You’re going to be knock the next few ladies dead, I know it.”

            A smile returned to Tanaka’s face.  “You know what?  You’re right.”  He paused.  “There were these couple of contest babes back in Rustboro that I was mackin’ on pretty hard and I bet one of _them_ would be _pretty_ impressed once I get back from helping you save the world and once we _kick the desert’s ass_.”

            “Oh man,” said Nishinoya.  “You’ve got them lined up already and you haven’t told me?  You _dog_!”

            “Yeah, man, okay…”  Ryu used his hands in a series of gestures that were supposed to animate what he was saying, but mostly were a series of flailings as he spoke.  “There was this short one, blonde, cute as _hell_.  She was totally into me, but then this tall girl steps in and—she wore glasses, right, but like in a sexy nerdy kind of way, and I want her to step on me.”  He took a breath and his face lit up.  “Oh _man_ , they’ll be so glad to see me…”

            “I bet they will,” said Noya, bumping his fist against Tanaka’s.  They had made it pretty far through Mauville, and after another minute or two of walking, they reached the start of Route 111, out of the city.

            What they hadn’t expected were the roadblocks across the path, manned by two uniformed police officers.  They approached the barrier, and Tanaka leaned down to Noya and whispered “oh shit, it’s the PokéCops,” to which Noya broke out in to laughter, laughter he did his best to stifle as they came closer.

            “Sorry, this route is closed due to storm damage up ahead,” said one of the officers, a taller one who was wearing a blue hat as a part of his uniform.  The other officer crossed their arms, trying to look tough.

            “We need to get through here,” said Nishinoya, wishing that he had some kind of badge he could have flashed as this point to get through.  He gestured to his uniform instead, as Tanaka put on his meanest tough guy face behind him.  “I’m a Pokémon Ranger, and I was sent to investigate the sandstorms…”

            “Sorry, kid,” said the taller officer, “but we aren’t supposed to let anyone by…”

            “First of all, I’m not a kid, I’m a full-grown…”

            “You’re not getting through,” said the tall officer, cutting him off.  This tone was one of finality, but both Noya and Tanaka were too scrappy to be deterred by that.

            “Hey!” said Tanaka, “We’ve been asked…”

            “Who even _are_ you?  You’re not a Ranger.”

            “I’ll have you know, you…”

            “Just finish that sentence, I dare you,” snapped the tall officer, leaning closer to Ryu.  Tanaka bared his teeth and prepared to take up that challenge when a light chuckle came from behind the officers, on the other side of the barrier.  All four of the men turned to find its source.

            The first thing that struck them about him was his _smile_.  It was dazzling, the kind you only saw on dolls or on magazines.  And they _had_ seen it in magazines before, because the second that struck them was that this was Tooru Oikawa, Champion of the Hoenn Pokémon League.  Both of the police officers stood up a bit straighter upon seeing him, and Noya nudged Tanaka so he would pull his jaw up from the ground.

            “I’m sorry,” said Oikawa, spreading his hands open to the men.  “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

            “You’re not interrupting anything,” said the taller officer, and the shorter one nodded to back him up.  “These two were just about to head back for the detour, or to wait it out with the other trainers at the Pokémon Center.”

            “We were _not_ , you…”

            The Champion shot Tanaka a pointed glare and his mouth clapped shut.  Oikawa then cleared his throat and, though at about the same eye level of at least two of them, managed to look down at all four.

            “I don’t think that they _will_ be going around, though,” he said, his grin somehow growing wider as he spoke.  “That one,” he pointed to Nishinoya, “is a Pokémon Ranger specifically asked to come here and _that_ one…”  He looked to Tanaka and raised an eyebrow.  “…is standing next to him.”

            “We never heard of any mission…”

            “You’re hearing about it now,” snapped Oikawa, and the tall officer recoiled.  The Champion re-settled himself and brushed some dust from his pants that wasn’t there.

            The officers didn’t dare argue with the Champion.  They stepped aside to let Nishinoya and Tanaka through the roadblocks.  Tanaka made gloating faces to them was they walked by.  The shorter one just gritted his teeth, while the taller one looked away, not making eye contact.

            “Boys, if you’d come with me,” said Oikawa, waving for them to follow as he started up Route 111.  “Thank you for your good work, officers~~!”

            Nishinoya and Tanaka followed him up and away from the officers and away from the city.  He didn’t say anything to them until they were out of earshot of the officers.

            “Thank you for being cooperative,” he said.  He waved his hand dismissively.  “You know how those officers can get.”

            The both of them nodded, as if they knew what he was saying, and he led them onward.

            “I’m sure you’re wondering, ‘why is Tooru Oikawa, the Champion and an incredibly busy man, intervening in our boring, everyday mission?’”  He raised an eyebrow and flashed his teeth.  “Well, it’s not as routine as you’d think.”

            “Wait…” said Noya, “does that mean that what’s going on in the desert has to do with what’s going on in Rustboro?  This is something _big_ , and _that_ ’s why you’re here?”

            Oikawa smirked.  “Something like that.  I mean, they _might_ be connected, but…”  His eyes cast downward, and a shadow seemed to cross his face for a moment before he brought back his dazzling smile.  “Tell me: how much do you know about stones?”

            Tanaka jumped in on this one.  “Metamorphic, sedimentary, and… wait, um… _igneous_!”  He placed his hands on his hips, proud.  “That’s the one that’s made from lava.”

            “Well,” said Oikawa, “you’re not wrong, but you’re not as smart as I’d thought, either.  I’m talking about stones that carry the power of a certain Pokémon type…”

            “Evolutionary stones, you mean,” said Noya, pushing Tanaka a bit as he reared up toward Oikawa.  “Why didn’t you just _say_ so, instead of…”

            “There are a number of deposits of these stones around the desert off of Route 111,” said the Champion, ignoring Nishinoya’s comment.  “And it _seems_ that someone has been intentionally disrupting the deposits, which…”  He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  “I’m going to jump to a _well-supported_ conclusion and say it has _something_ to do with Magma…”  He trailed off and straightened up.  “I have a personal interest in the well-being of both these stones and the Pokémon who live in this desert.”

            “Oh?” asked Noya.

            “How much do you know about the Legendary Titans?”

            Both Nishinoya and Tanaka were without a response.  Neither wanted to be shot down with such pedantry as Tanaka had been earlier.

            “Well, there are three, and, well, check your Pokédex about them.  Regice and Registeel are taken care of, gym leaders guarding…”  He was losing control of his sentence in his frustration and gathered himself back up.  “The point is, I’m concerned that this irregular weather is caused by Regirock, the titan who, according to legend, was instrumental in creating the landmass of Hoenn, being agitated by this disruption of the stones because, again, according to legend, he lies dormant somewhere in the desert.”

            “Woah—wait just a second.”  Noya grabbed Oikawa’s arm, bringing all three of them to a halt.  Oikawa pulled his arm away.  “You want us to take on a legendary Pokémon in the middle of huge sandstorms caused by said legendary Pokémon?”

            “Well, the storms, I’d say aren’t being caused so much by the Titan but by the people bothering it…”

            “Plus,” said Tanaka, throwing an arm around Oikawa, “we’ll have the Champion there to help us out!”

            Oikawa shrugged Tanaka’s arm off about as quickly as he put it on his shoulders.  “No, you won’t.”  He checked his PokéNav, quickly slipping it out and back into his pocket.  “I’m sorry, but they’re in a bit of a pinch back in Rustboro, and I live to serve.”

            He took a step away from them, back toward Mauville as he were to leave them behind, then stopped and stepped back toward them, pulling something out of his pocket.  “Wait—it’s not really safe to go in the desert alone.”  He held out the things in his hands.  “Take these.”

            “Goggles?” asked Tanaka, stretching out the elastic strap.

            “Yes, _goggles_ ,” said Oikawa.  “With all of the sandstorms going on, you might want them.  You know, _for the sand_.”

            Tanaka’s eyes widened before narrowing, and he snapped the strap around his head doing his best not to react to the pain of the elastic slapping against this skin.

            “Thank you,” said Nishinoya, more carefully putting his goggles on over his spiked-back hair.

            “Oh!” said Oikawa, holding up a finger.  “And if you find any fossils, for fuck’s sake, leave them alone.”  He hesitated, decided he’d said all he needed to say, and started back toward Mauville.  “You should be all set.”  He turned back to them to wave, his grin stretched back across his face.  “Good luck~~!”

            Nishinoya and Tanaka watched him practically _prance_ off, and Noya raised an eyebrow.  “He’s interesting.”

            Tanaka nodded.  “Very pretty.  Very scary.  Kind of an ass.”  They turned to each other, saw how ridiculous the other looked in his new goggles, and broke down into laughter.

            When they finished, they turned back toward the uphill of Route 111, where the vegetation was already thinning out to make way for the more arid climate as rocks rose in the scenery around them.

            “Are you up for this?” asked Nishinoya, looking to his companion.  “We’re basically fighting against the guardian of the desert.”

            Tanaka grinned.   “ _We_ ’re going to take on the entire desert,” he said, no doubt in his voice, “and we’re going to _win_.”

* * *

 

> N: i met the champion just now  
>  N: kind of a dick  
>  N: v pretty  
>  A: Wait, really? That’s really cool!  
>  N: ur prettier dont worry  
>  N: ;3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is 100% a reminder that you'll enjoy this chapter so much more if you read DisappearingOctopus's "The Power That's Inside," one of the other THREE fics in this series!!! So go read that, and the other fics as well!!! Thanks!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nishinoya and Tanaka face the desert and have a run-in with Team Magma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay SO this is the first update since August and I promise you it's not because I forgot. I was a student teacher this semester on top of running a sports team and working part time so I didn't really have time to do anything. You can ask anyone; I don't sleep. BUT I have it now because I care a lot and I really want more from this AU!
> 
> I hope you'll forgive me for my tardiness, but I'm super proud of how the pokemon battle in this chapter turned out, so I hope that'll make up for it!

            Walking through the desert was probably the quietest either of them had ever been in their entire lives.  They had to keep their mouths firmly closed most of the time because of the high winds and the whipping sand as it swirled all around them.  Nishinoya pulled his zipper up all the way to cover his mouth the best that he could, but even that didn’t really do much for him.  Tanaka was totally undefended from the sand, and it didn’t help that he kept opening his mouth to talk before realizing why they weren’t talking by way of a mouthful of sand.

            They couldn’t see more than ten feet in front of them, but that wasn’t about to stop them.  There had, at one point, been a path that went through this area, but Route 111 had, at this point, been totally taken over by sand.  As they started off, they could see the battered and sandy remnants of trees and bushes, marking the areas that were once occupied by the normal grassy climate of Hoenn, rather than the full-on sandy desert it had become.  As they trudged forward, however, the trees and bushes became less and less frequent until they could be fairly sure that they were outside of where the sandstorm had spilled over and had entered the desert proper.

            Somehow, the storm ramped itself up to even more powerful than it had been before.  The wind whipped up in huge gusts that whipped at their exposed skin like a thousand tiny needles digging into them at once.  They struggled through this in a basically straight direction until they found a large overhang in a rock formation that rose out of the sand not far from where the path had at once point been.  They didn’t need more than a few hand gestures to know that they wanted to take shelter there.  They ducked underneath and leaned against the back wall, getting in as far away from the storm as they could.

            Tanaka coughed up a fistful of sand and spat it out onto the sandy floor of the small enclosure.  Once he had finished ridding his mouth of the grit he’d captured with it, they remained quiet for a moment or two longer, getting their bearing and catching their breaths.  Noya shook his fingers back through his hair, letting loose a small snowstorm of sand granules.

            “So, are we on the right track?” asked Tanaka.

            “I _think_ so,” said Noya, pulling out his PokéNav.  He wiped a few notifications from Asahi out of the way—he’d get to those in a minute, when Tanaka wasn’t looking over his shoulder—and opened up his map.  “It says we’re _here_ ,” said Noya, pointing to a small pixelated face on the map that looked nothing like either of them.  “And here’s the whole desert.  So we’re _in_ , but…”  He pointed to another part of the map, on the far side of the desert where the topography seemed to border the area with sheer rock cliffs.  “…this is where Regirock is supposed to live.”

            “Great,” said Tanaka, spitting again into the sand next to him.  “Just an _entire desert_ to cross.  No big deal.”

            “It’ll be fine,” said Nishinoya.  “Think of the Pokémon we’re going to see.  Think of how cool it’s going to be when we beat the entire desert!”

            Tanaka’s grin widened, revealing specks of sand between some of his teeth and an attitude of nothing but determination.  “Let’s do it.”

* * *

 

 

> N: the sand is evrywhr  
>  A: Well, it is a desert.  
>  N: its coarse & rough & gets evrywhr  
>  N: so much  
>  A: …sorry, what?  
>  N: SAND

* * *

            They had been walking a long time, had pushed away a fair amount of trapinches, and almost were hugged by an overzealous cacnea before they made it to the high cliff faces of the edge of the desert.

            It was not long after they had met this wall and had started to follow it northward, keeping the rocks on their right, that they saw a crevice in the rock wall that was unlike the other nooks and crannies of the geography.  Tanaka pointed, Nishinoya nodded, and they made their way toward it.

            The rocks had been blown away from this area.  Where other caverns or cracks in the rocks so far—shallow indentations, as they were—had been made from weatherization or by shifting faults over time, it was clear to see that someone or something had blasted its way through this rock by way of some sort of explosion.  Pieces of debris, jagged from where they had been broken apart, were case about in the sand around them.  Larger pieces were upended around the hole, big chunks that didn’t match the weather-beaten sedimentary of the rest of the desert.

            _Something_ had happened here.  Something _other_ than the relentless sandstorm.  Looking to each other through their ridiculous goggles, they understood that both figured this probably had something to do with the sandstorm’s cause.

            Nishinoya lead the way, creeping carefully inside, past the blasted-out rock.  There were a few chunks that almost blocked the way, but he was able to scramble over them without much trouble.  Tanaka touched down just after him, and they crept carefully into the small cave opening.

            The initial opening was broken, jagged, and freshly exposes, since it had only recently been exploded into existence.  The slightly lighter colored rock showed where it had once been protected next to the more toughened outer surfaces, which had been longer exposed to the elements.

            Once they had gotten a few yards into the cave, however, the rock wasn’t blasted by was a natural cavern.  The rock reach up much higher than it had before, tapering as it rose.  The light wasn’t great, only filtering in a bit from the outside.  Luckily, however, the sand also was only able to filter in a bit, as well.

            Nishinoya pulled off his goggles and shoved them into the pocket of his vest, feeling the wind as it gently buffeted the back of his hair.  Tanaka pulled his goggles off as well, stashing them in his backpack.

            “You think this is the place?” asked Tanaka as he slung his backpack on his shoulder again.

            Noya shrugged.  “I figure so.  Most suspicious thing we’ve seen so far.”

            “Except for the huge sandstorm.”

            “Duh, except for the huge sandstorm.”

            Noya’s eyebrows came together a bit and he thumbed the button on one of the pokéballs on his belt.  In a flash of light, Scraggy appeared in front of them.

            “Scra…”  It beamed up at them as it pulled up the loose skin at its waist.

            “Good idea, man,” said Tanaka.  In a flash, Tyrogue joined Scraggy.  Tanaka looked up, cocking his head to the side.  “Did you hear that?”

            “Yeah, you released Tyrogue.”

            “No, man, _shhh…_ ”

            Tanaka crouched down instantly, and Noya did as well, following suit.  Tanaka crept forward, deeper into the cave, leaving the howling of the storm behind them.  The light waned as they went and both of them found themselves squinting to see, Pokémon close behind.   As they moved forward, a faint glow of light came from ahead of them, around the corner.

            They crept carefully up to the corner, staying well beneath a boulder that might have fallen from somewhere higher up a long time before.  The cave widened out into a larger cavern, and the light came from a lantern in the center of it.

            Tanaka and Noya sat with their backs to the rocks, their Pokémon taking up a similar position between them.  They hid not from the light, but the two red uniform-clad men standing by it, arguing.

            “I’m just _saying_ , Lev, that you can’t just—”  The smaller man shoved his face into his hands in frustration.  “There are moves _other_ than offensive.”

            The taller one, whose crop-top hoodie looked comically short on his long body, cocked his head to the side quizzically.  “But if you want to win…” he began with an accent neither Noya nor Tanaka could quite place.

            “You have to think of all sides,” interrupted the shorter one.  He sighed, and walked in a slow, pacing circle.  “It’s like—what if your opponent’s bigger?  Or more powerful?”

            “You attack.”

            “No, you—wipe that stupid grin—Lev, you _weaken_ it first.”

            Lev didn’t respond, and the shorter one threw his hands into the air.  He grumbled something about knowing his new partner would be a foreigner, but not a total _noob_.

            “Do we attack?” whispered Tanaka to Noya, the two smaller Pokémon looking up to them as they leaned over them both.

            “I mean, they look suspicious…”

            “Wasn’t the Champion talking about gang activity?”

            “Those do seem like gang uniforms.”

            “So we go for it?”

            “Hell yeah!”

            “What was that?” asked the shorter grunt, looking around the cave.

            “I didn’t hear anything, Yaku,” said Lev.

            “Well, _I_ did,” said Noya, vaulting over the boulder into the cavern.

            “What?” asked Lev.

            The two Pokémon leapt over the rock as well, and Tanka did a half-flip he had no doubt imitated from low-level parkour videos online.  “Dude, that doesn’t make any sense.”

            “But did it sound cool?”

            “Bro, it sounded cool as _hell_!”

            They high-fived.

            “Um, who the hell are you?” asked the shorter grunt, his hand on one of the pokéballs at his belt.

            “Oh, yeah,” said Noya.  “I’m Pokémon Ranger Nishinoya Yuu, and I, uh, need to know what’s going on here!”  He made a vague waving motion to gesture to the cavern around them.  Scraggy crossed its arms and nodded in solidarity.

            “We are waiting for a break in the storm,” said Lev, “so that other Magma members can come and…”

            Yaku elbowed him in the stomach.  “What he’s saying is, we’re waiting for help.  To, um, get out of here.”  He flashed what must have been his attempt at an honest smile.

            Tanaka and Nishinoya rolled their eyes to each other until they made eye contact, and then turned back to the two Magma grunts.  “Okay…” said Tanaka.

            “We’d be happy to help you back to safety, if that’s all,” said Noya, “but I have a feeling that there’s another reason you’re in this cave.”

            “Like _making_ this cave,” said Tanaka, raising an eyebrow and leaning in toward them.  “ _Hm_?”

            “Maybe agitating ancient guardian legendary Pokémon in some grand and messed up scheme of climate change?”  Noya smirked.

            “After all that,” said Lev, “we do need help out of here, so we really weren’t…”

            Yaku glared up at him, and he shut his mouth.  Yaku then gritted his teeth, and his fingers tensed around the pokéball at his side.  “Okay, so what’re you going to _do_ about it?”

            “We’re going to battle—”

            Noya cut Tanaka off with a hand to the chest.  “We were hoping you could show us to Regirock, so that we could calm it down and stop this storm.”

            “Why would we do that?” asked Yaku, narrowing his eyes.  “We started the storm!”

            “Well, so you wouldn’t have to lose as massively as you’re about to,” said Noya, as he grinned.  Yaku gritted his teeth and hit the button on the pokéball he had been fingering.  A zorua appeared in a flash of red light.  A moment later, a tropius joined it from one of the pokéballs Lev had at his waist.

            Tanaka burst out laughing.

            “What?” asked the tall Magma grunt.

            “You’re on the _fire_ team!” said Tanaka, clutching his stomach.  “That’s a grass type!”

            “Yeah, well, we’re the _land_ team,” said Yaku, taking a step forward, defensive of his partner.  “And grass types live on _land_.  Step off.”

            Tanaka bent over, laughing, and Lev gritted his teeth.  A moment later, dozens of razor-sharp leaves buffeted Tyrogue, some of them lacerating its trainer, as well.  Tanaka looked from the scratches on his arms to his Pokémon to Lev.

            “What the hell?” he shouted.  His yell reverberated through the cave.

            Yaku grinned, and a moment later his zorua was chomping down on Scraggy’s arm.

            “Damn it!” said Noya.  “Scraggy, low kick!”

            His Pokémon wasted no time flipping its body below the canine and whipping its leg beneath the other’s, knocking it off its arm and back against the sandy stone floor.  It stood up, shaking some of the sand from its black fur.

            Meanwhile, Tanaka commanded his tyrogue to tackle its opponent.  The tropius, being much larger, was no to put off by this advance and cut back with another razor leaf.  This time, however, Tanaka was ready.

            “Tyrogue!  Counter, like we practiced!”

            The smaller Pokémon dodged a few of the leaves, grabbed ahold of Tropius’s neck, and yanked downward, causing the Pokémon’s fruit-laden head to hit the ground.  Tyrogue leapt back and released with the impact.

            “Come on, Scraggy, swagger!”  Noya pointed to his smaller counterpart.  “Do it with style!”

            The Pokémon nodded and pulled up its loose skin.  As it did, it puffed out its small chest and grinned a bit.  As it did, however, Yaku called out to Zorua.  “Scary face!”

            Zorua’s face contorted, showing fangs Noya didn’t know it had and revealing much more sinister eyes than he had originally through the small furry Pokémon had possessed.  What front the scraggy was putting on was disrupted by the face, which was deeply unsettling.

            “Come on, Scraggy,” said Noya.  “Don’t let it distract you.  Brick break!”

            Scraggy, however, looked from Zorua to Noya to Yaku and back to Noya again before making a feeble karate chopping motion in the wrong direction.  Noya facepalmed.

            Tyrogue had righted itself and stood ready in a good fighting stance as Tropius rose from the floor of the cavern again, towering over everyone else in the small space.

            Zorua took advantage of Scraggy’s confusion, and Yaku put it on an all-out attack when he saw the opening.  “Fury swipes, Zorua, now!”  Zorua didn’t waste any time, immediately pouncing on the scraggy and swiping at it over and over with its tiny but incredibly sharp claws.

            “Hold on, Scraggy!” called Noya, and he could feel his heart racing as his Pokémon tried its best to simply defend itself from the onslaught.  His grin faded as the zorua kept slashing and slashing, until…

            “Scraggy, now!  Payback!”

            Noya’s scraggy rocked back on its feet, away from the zorua, before rocking back forward and pummeling the other Pokémon’s face with tiny fists fueled by a huge store of pent-up power.  The zorua was completely unable to defend itself, and let out a small yelp of distress as it faded out of consciousness.

            Tropius had risen to its full height, and Lev grinned, a gleam in his eye, by the light of the lone small lantern.  “You’re good with the fighting moves,” he said, “and I like a good fight.”

            “Thanks?” said Tanaka, unsure of whether this was presented as a compliment or not.

            “But remember Tropius is not just a grass type.”  He turned to his Pokémon.  “Gust, Tropius.”

            The large tree-like Pokémon’s leaves fluttered outward to form a wide wingspan.  It brought them back and, with one big push, whipped up a large wind in the small space, knocking Tyrogue back into Tanaka, who was in turn knocked off of his heels onto the floor.

            Meanwhile, Yaku returned his zorua just in time for Lev’s gust to pick up.  He turned to his partner to admonish him for using a move like that in an enclosed space.  In the next moment, he was knocked to the ground—half because of the blowback of the gust the half because Nishinoya had gotten a brief running start and tackled him to the ground.

            As Noya took down Yaku, Tanaka returned Tyrogue to its pokéball.  Lev and his tropius looked on, the battles effectively halted, as Noya wrestled with Yaku on the sandy floor.  They grunted as they rolled back and forth, gripping at teach other even as they pushed each other away.  Tanaka got to his feet and watched next to Lev and his Pokémon.

            The fight stopped abruptly as Noya put Yaku in a chokehold, kneeling over his back.  Both of the short men breathed heavily.

            “You’re going to show us…”  Noya took a breath.  “…where Regirock is.”

            “Ugh…” spat Yaku, still straining against Noya’s grip.  “Fine.”  He looked up at Lev.  “Great bunch of help you’ve been.”

            “What?” asked Lev, lifting his hands in a shrug.  Tanka took his opportunity to get behind him and twist his arm into a lock and hold it there.  Lev winced from the pain.

            “Return your Pokémon,” said Tanaka.

            “This is not how battle rules go,” said Leva as the tropius took a step to save him.  Lev instead pressed the button on its pokéball, returning it to safekeeping.

            “This isn’t about battling Pokémon,” said Noya.  “This is about stopping your stupid scheme.”  Tanaka released Leva’s arm, and Lev took a few steps away from him.

            It took a few moments for Yaku to say anything to them but he finally let out a sigh of defeat.  “…fine.”

            Noya hesitated for a moment before getting off of him and stepping to the side and letting him up.  Lev took a few steps over to him to help him up, but Yaku waved him away.

            “Come on,” said Yaku, leading the way away from where they were standing.  Lev stooped down to grab the lantern as they went.  Nishinoya and Tanaka followed, Noya returning Scraggy to its ball so that it could rest, post-battle.

            Near the back side of the cavern, where it seemed as if the rock had tapered off into another wall in the low light, there was a narrow space through which Yaku led them.  Lev had to stop down a lot, but Noya had no problem following them through.  Tanaka took up the rear as they squeezed through the hole.

            It was a bit of a tight squeeze, but the small section of the cave opened up into a much larger cavern than the one they had been in before.  The light from Lev’s lantern cast ghastly shadows against the arching sandstone walls.

            The two Magma grunts stood out of the way for Noya and Tanaka to come though into the cavern.

            Both of them stopped completely when they saw the monolith in the center of the cavern.  Though Lev held the only source of light in the enclosed space, the monolith seemed to be self-lit.  It stood, just a bit taller than Tanaka but much more physically impressive, in the center of the cavern.  It resembled a pile of rocks, an expertly built cairn.  In the center of the highest rock were seven circles etched in an H-shaped pattern.

            Behind the cairn of eclectic rocks was a high, flat wall.  The wall was intricately carved with designs showing people and Pokémon working together in some long-ago time.  The wall was decorated, it seemed, all the way up to the top of the cavern.

            “Wow!” said Tanka, throwing his arms wide.  “Look at this place!”

            “It’s huge!” said Lev, grinning.  Yaku shot him a glare.

            “So, where’s the Pokémon?” asked Noya, turning to Yaku and Lev.  “Where’s Regirock?”

            “You’re looking at it,” said Yaku, pointing past Noya to the center of the cavern.

            “It’s the rocks,” added Lev.

            Noya looked to Tanaka, who grinned and nodded.  Together, they took a few steps closer to the cairn in the middle of the cavern.  After a few steps, the ground began to shake, disrupting some of the stalactites and putting their nerves on edge.  Noya let out a small yelp of surprise, and he looked to Tanaka, whose face showed that he had been caught off guard just as much as Noya had.

            The rumbling slowed down and died out, and the two of them turned back to the obelisk, taking a few steps closer.

            Then, without warning, all seven of the titan’s eyes opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is probably going to be the last! (Maybe w/ an epilogue to follow...)
> 
> Don't worry, though, because there's a bunch more fics in this series! Check them out! They're all interconnected!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noya and Tanaka take on Regirock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO! Here it is, after me spending way too long on it! It's been my last semester of college so I've had a new excuse every day to be doing some other work, BUT it's exam week so I am looking for any excuse not to be working on that.
> 
> This is the last chapter of this fic, but there's more going on in this AU if you check the series! And there'll probably be more to come!!!
> 
> Thanks for being patient, reading, and for all of the kudos, comments, and support!!!
> 
> (and ty hobbit_hedgehog for the suggestion that the summary of this chapter be read like an Always Sunny in Philadelphia title card)

Asahi’s eyes flitted from the screen, to the small pile of Pokémon, back to the screen again.  There was no new message on his PokéNav, but that made him even more nervous.  Noya had been gone for almost two days, but he had constantly texted Asahi to make sure that he wouldn’t worry.  Asahi hadn’t gotten a message of any kind for a few hours, and his mind was running through just about every possible negative outcome it could stretch for.

            Noya could have fallen and broken his leg, and Tanaka could have gotten separated, leaving him to die.  A huge armaldo could have sprung itself on them and they couldn’t get to their pokéballs quickly enough. They could have been jumped by a street gang and killed when they had too much pride to give up their money or Pokémon.  They could have fallen down an embankment into a river.  They could have been crushed in a rockslide.  They could have…

            “Asahi!”

            He was jerked out of his spiral of worrying by the shout of his grandmother, leaning out of the kitchen window that overlooked the backyard.  His gaze then followed her pointing to the pile of Pokémon who were roughhousing, a nidoran about to join a hog pile on top of a rattata.  He let out an _eep_ of surprise and jumped into action, carefully grasping the nidoran around the sides of its belly to pull it away from the other Pokémon.  He placed it on the grass and looked it in the eye.  “You have poison spines,” he said.  The Pokémon blinked at him.  “You can play with the other Pokémon, but do not touch them.”  The Pokémon tilted its head to the side, questioning.  Asahi tried to keep his expression firm.  “Not everything is for _nidorans_.  Do not touch them with your poison spines.”

            He placed the purple Pokémon back onto the ground and it looked to the pile before trouncing around to the other side to roll over on its back in some grass.

            Asahi turned his attention back to his PokéNav, which still hadn’t updated.  He pressed the refresh button anyway, but he didn’t receive any new messages.  He hesitated for a moment before typing out another message, his fingers shaking slightly.  He hoped that Noya wouldn’t mind him checking in on him, but he was worried about him.  Very worried.

            He looked up at the sky and at the sun as it began its descent of late-afternoon.  He sighed and felt the worry settle down over his heart.  He tried to just trust that Noya and Tanaka had the expertise they needed to in order to handle any situation that came their way.

* * *

            “You made it wake up!” said Yaku, yelling over the sound of the new microchasm of a sandstorm that was whipping up all around them.  There was no wind, as there way outside—there was just _sand_ picking up from the bottom of the cave and biting into their skin.  Nishinoya began to reach for his goggles, but instead just held his arm in front of his face to shield his eyes.

            “Dude, I think it’s angry!” said Tanaka, gritting his teeth against the mini-storm.

            “Wouldn’t you be, with these idiots bothering you?”  Noya did his best to glare at Yaku and Lev, but the sand made it difficult for him to do that.

            “I resent that!” shouted Lev from off and behind him.  Tanaka turned to shoot him a dirty look, but Noya caught his shoulder.

            “We’ve got to take this thing down,” said Nishinoya, his hand already on one of the pokéballs on his belt.  “We need to stop the storm.”  Tanaka looked him in the eye and nodded with determination.

            Almost as if in synchronization, the two of them tossed their pokéballs into the space between them and the legendary titan.  In a flash of red through the whirling sand, Pawniard and Sawk appeared, both in ready fighting stances.  Regirock turned its body to look at the Pokémon rather than the trainers.  The sandstorm itself was not affected.

            “Pawniard!  Swords dance!”  The small steel-type Pokémon responded with a small nod and sharpened its hand-blades against each other.  It dropped its arms down to its sized, primed and ready for battle.

            “You ready?” asked Noya, looking to Tanaka through squinted eyes.

            “Oh, _hell_ yeah!” shouted Tanaka over the sand, catching a whole lot of it in his open mouth as he did.  He spat it out as he addressed his Pokémon.  “Sawk!  Close combat, let’s go!”

            The Pokémon didn’t hesitate; it leapt into battle, landing just a few feet away from the legendary titan. The blue Pokémon then thrust a series of hard blows at its rocky exterior before taking a few steps back to settle into a ready stance.

            The Regirock had recoiled bit from the pummeling, and it now addressed the two other Pokémon with its eyes, shifting its whole body to face theirs.

            “Pawniard!  Use night slash!”  Noya pointed toward the rock-type as he called out the move, as if there were any question of the target.  It angled its body forward, flitted right, left, and seemed to almost disappear into a shadow that hadn’t been there a second before.  It then leapt up at the rocky Pokémon suddenly from just in front of it, raking its blades against Regirock’s front.

            Regirock turned with a speed none of the trainers expected to face Pawniard.  Then, it moved with a similarly startling speed, lifting its arms toward Pawniard, its eyes tilting down toward the Pokémon.  Pawniard took a step back, recoiling from the sudden gaze.  Pawniard shook its head, shaking off the last brunt of the battle.  The regirock kept its many eyes trained on it.

            “Sawk!” shouted Tanaka, but the blue Pokémon was already in action, slamming the side of its hand, karate-chop style, into the side of the rock titan’s large body.

            Regirock staggered backwards slightly, but as it did, it held a head out toward Sawk.  Large chunks of rock detached themselves from the floor and walls of the cavern around Regirock and launched themselves at Sawk.  The Pokémon was lifted off of its feet and slammed into the ground by the force of the rocks.  The rocks slid onto the ground next to the Pokémon as it slowly got back to its feet.

            He recoiled as the blast from the blow repercussed behind the Pokémon toward him.  If that was what Sawk was feeling, Tanaka figured that it would be pretty rough for him out there, plus the sandstorm…

            Regirock raised its arm, as if to call up the rocky assault again.

            “Counter, quick!”  Sawk didn’t hesitate.  It ducked low before coming upward with a fist, uppercutting the monolith.  Regirock actually staggered for a moment after this, and Sawk dropped back into a fighting stance.  This was the perfect opportunity for Noya to make a move.

            “Pawniard, Metal Claw!”  Pawniard nodded, and its knife-like hands flowed even in the darkness of the cave.  It took a step back to gather itself before launching itself forward, slashing both claws in a powerful attack.  Regirock staggered another step backward, but it was also ready, its eyes tracking Pawniard the whole way.  As Pawniard finished its attack, Regirock brought its hands together and down over the smaller Pokémon, knocking it to the floor of the cave and backward, flopping as it fell unconscious.

            “Pawniard!” shouted Noya, kneeling down to collect his Pokémon.  He glared upward toward Regirock, who was easily withstanding Sawk’s retaliation, before returning Pawniard to its pokéball.

            “Sawk!” called Tanaka, tightening his fists and gritting his teeth.  “Come on, retaliate!”

            The blue fighting Pokémon, worn-down but not yet out, stood ready.  Its thick brow came down over its eyes as it squatted down before launching forward, thrusting with a punch curved directly at the arrangement of yellow circles that made up Regirock’s eyes.

            Regirock did not seem to be affected by this new assault.  It lifted one of its rocky arms and for a brief moment it even seemed to glow in the scant light before slamming into Sawk and sending it flying back down to the stone floor of the cavern.  As it collided with the floor, its head ricocheted with a _crack_ , and it fell unconscious.

            “Aah!” cried Tanaka, returning Sawk to its pokéball in a flash of red.  The sand whipped up even more, the particulates scratching any exposed skin available to them.

            Now, there were no Pokémon between the four trainers and the legendary titan.  Tanaka tossed a glance over his shoulder, at the two Magma grunts.  “So,” he said, “are either of you going to contribute?”

            The tall one grinned and reached for the pokéballs on his belt.  Yaku held out an arm to signal for him to stop.  “Don’t you think we’ve done enough?”

            “You _have_ ,” said Noya, gesturing at Regirock.

            “And I thought you were going to calm that thing _down_ ,” said Yaku, his eyes narrowing not just because of the spiraling sand.  Lev nodded high over his shoulder to back him up.

            “We’re working on it,” said Tanaka.  He turned to Noya and pulled him to the side.  “I’ve only got one Pokémon left,” he said.  “After the desert…”

            “Me, too,” said Noya.  He glanced past Tanaka, speaking low, at the Magma members.  “But we’ve got to do this—those two idiots obviously aren’t going to fix their own mistake.”

            “Let’s do it,” said Tanaka, grinning slightly and bumping his fist against Noya’s, trying to convince him that the slight shaking he felt in his hand as he did it was just the sandstorm and not his nerves.  His hand went to the one pokéball on his belt he was sure was completely healed.

            Noya took a breath and then smiled wide, his eyes stinging without his goggles.  “Let’s make it count.”

            There was a flash of red that filled the cave as both of them released the Pokémon at once, Wurmple and Shuckle in front of Tanaka and Nishinoya, respectively.  Lev let out a snort form behind them.  Tanaka whipped around his face distorted into an ugly scowl.

            “ _That’s_ our last line of defense?” scoffed Yaku.

            “It’s so cute,” said Lev, pointing at the red caterpillar.

            “Neither of us asked for your input,” said Noya, looking over his shoulder.

            “We’re going to die,” said Yaku through a half-laugh.

            Regirock, perhaps irritated with the short period of inaction, took a step toward the group of them, increasing the caliber of the mini-sandstorm as it did.  Small rocks and chunks began to join the sand in whipping around the cavern.

            “String shot!” shouted Tanaka, and his wurmple looked back at him, tilting its head quizzically to the side as a small chunk of rock bopped off of it.  Tanaka facepalmed.  “String.  Shot,” he enunciated, pointing at Regirock.  The Pokémon continued to stare at him, and he mimed the move, using his fingers to intimate the desired webbing from Wurmple.

            The bug Pokémon finally got the meaning Tanaka was trying to show, and spit out a jet of white string, which covered the behemoth in front of it despite the spinning debris.  Regirock struggled against its bonds for a moment before breaking free and making a move toward Shuckle.

            As the titan’s large arm came down toward Shuckle, Noya called out to it: “Withdraw!”

            The Pokémon pulled its head and tentacle-like limbs back into its shell with an astonishing speed, leaving only its hard shell to bear the brunt of Regirock’s attack.  When the behemoth drew back its arms, Shuckle’s head and limbs reappeared, basically unscathed.

            “Quick, Wurmple!’ shouted Tanaka, “string shot, then follow it up with poison sting!”

            Wurmple, warmed up to the action of the battle, did him one better.  It moved toward the rock-type as it covered it with its string shot, firing a stinger from its tail as it did, embedding the stinger in the string shot to ensure it would _stick_ to Regirock.

            The legendary titan was stopped in its tracks, if only for a moment.  It struggled against the webbing, but was focused more on the stinger than the two Pokémon and four humans in front of it.

            “Shuckle, now’s your chance!” shouted Noya.  “Withdraw again, and go right into your power trick!”

            Shuckle pulled all of its limbs and head back into its shell.  As soon as it did, it began to vibrate softly, giving a slight blue glow before its limbs reemerged from inside of the shell.

            The string prison caging Regirock tensed again before breaking apart.  The Pokémon staggered forward on heavy limbs, and all four trainers recoiled, Lev especially drawing up his long legs and arms away from the legendary figure.  Regirock swung both of its arms toward Shuckle, and it was shot backward against the cavern wall.  Shuckle struggled for a moment to pull itself upward, but was able to find its balance again.

            Regirock turned to Wurmple.  It took a step toward the smaller Pokémon, and Tanaka shouted out.  “String shot!  Again!”

            The jet of silky string coated the rock titan, and it stopped in its tracks.  Tanaka looked to Noya.  “You’ve got a plan, right?  Wurmple isn’t an offensive beast.”

            “Sometimes,” said Noya with a grin, “the best offense is a good defense.”  He turned to Shuckle.  “Shell smash!” he shouted, and Shuckle leapt into action.  Its tentacle-like appendages extend across its shell and hooked inward to other holes.  They tightened for a moment, a second of tension, and then the shell shattered apart, bits of it flying in different directions and across the floor of the cavern.  The surging sandstorm helped to scatter it around.

            Left behind from the destruction was a writing mass of limbs, much like the cross between a tangela and small intestines.  Despite its exposure to the whipping particulates, it did not seem to be affected.

            “ _That’s_ what’s in the shell?” asked Lev, peeking over Tanaka’s shoulder.

            “Gross,” muttered Yaku from somewhere slightly farther off.

            Noya ignored them, a small grin coming to his face.  “Ryu, keep it stringed up!”  Tanaka shot him a thumbs-up.  Wurmple shot another string over the goliath’s body.

            “Okay, Shuckle, are you ready?”  The writhing yellow tangle gave a movement that might have resembled a nod.  “Struggle bug!”

            With a power unnerving for the small size of the Pokémon, Shuckle launched itself at Regirock, attaching itself to thee rock giant’s face like something out of _Alien_.  It writhed about on the surface of Regirock, covering all of its eyes, causing it to struggle backward even as it was near-immobile due to Wurmple’s binding attack.

            Tanaka took advantage of this moment.  As the titan began to move its arms from where they were bound to its sides, Tanaka called out to his Pokémon, “Wurmple, tackle, now!”

            Wurmple moved immediately, skittering forward and slamming its tiny body against one of the legs of the legendary titan.  This attack did not do much damage—in fact, it could be considered negligible—but it _did_ , however, push Regirock just enough, in conjunction with Shuckle’s powered-up assault, to topple the beast.  It slammed to the ground with a cracking _thud_ , but Shuckle didn’t let up.  Its limbs struck the surface of Regirock’s facial and torso region, and did not seem to be relenting at any point, or to be letting up in any way.  If anything, it became more intense.

            The sand whipped up its intensity, and both Tanaka and Noya had to squint their eyes as they teared up, so that they could barely see at all.  The sand bit into their skin, drawing some blood in some points, the chunks digging bruises into their arms. The small pieces of rocks _whistled_ by, going faster and harder, the cyclone of sand building, growing, accelerating, until…

            Everything stopped.

            The sand and rocks all skittered to the floor.  The sound they whipped up fell to silence. The sound of the four trainers’ breathing filled the cavern due to the echoes.  Wurmple looked back to Tanaka, who nodded and returned it to its pokéball.  Noya took a step forward before doing the same for Shuckle.

            “Is it dead?” asked Lev from somewhere behind them.

            “Shut up,” said Tanaka.  He took a step forward with Noya to examine the collapsed Regirock.  “Is it dead?”

            “Fainted,” said Noya, nudging its solid-rock body with the toe of his sneaker.  He looked back to Tanaka, who shrugged.

            “What do we do now?”

            Noya glanced around Tanaka to the two Magma grunts.  “We’ll call for a ride once we get out of the cavern.  None of our Pokémon would be able to get us out of the desert right now.”

            “The Pokémon are going to be hecka agitated,” said Tanaka.

            “Do we get a say in this?” asked Yaku, his hands on his hips.

            “That depends.  Did you anger a legendary titan and cause an ecological disaster?”  Noya raised an eyebrow.

            The two grunts stared back at Noya and Tanaka for a moment before Lev spoke.  “He’s got us there.”

            Tanaka grinned a shark-toothed smile as he herded the two of them out of the cavern.  Noya glanced down at his PokéNav and saw that there was no service, due probably to the thick rock walls all around him.  He would have to wait until he was outside to call Takeda for a ride.  He took a step toward Regirock, his eyes fixed on the Pokémon.  Fainted, it seemed as if it were only a pile of rocks, arranged in the vague shape of a humanoid body.

            It was made of the rocks that matched the walls of the cavern, but it was also made of metamorphic and igneous rocks that didn’t seem to be local at all.  It was a representation of all of Hoenn.  Noya looked from Regirock to the carvings on the wall behind it, ancient diagrams showing stick figures pushing what looked to be Regirock into the cave.  It had been trapped before.  They had done it again.  Noya looked down to Regirock again, and he felt a pang in his chest for it.  It hadn’t meant any harm, but it had been riled up by those goons.  If it had just been left alone…

            He turned away, hesitated for a moment, and jogged a bit to catch up with Ryu.  The moment he emerged into the sunlight, his PokéNav began to light up and blink with a long series of notifications.

> A: I don’t mean to pester you, but I hope you’re okay!  Please reply.  
>  A: Are you okay?  
>  A: I’m sorry for triple-messaging, but did something happen?  
>  A: Are you okay?  
>  A: I’m sorry.  Are you safe?  
>  A: Are you save?  
>  A: *safe  
>  A: Noya are you alive?  
>  A: Please don’t be dead.  
>  A: Oh my goodness, if you’re dead, that message is so insensitive and I’m sorry.  
>  A: Not that you would see this, if you’re dead.  
>  A: You’re not dead, are you?  
>  A: Noya?  
>  A: Noya, I can feel myself actively stress-balding, so please reply.  
>  A: I don’t mean to make you guilty!  
>  A: Should I call the police to go and find you?

            The messages went on like that for over a hundred more.  Checking the time, he realized that he’d only been out of range for two, maybe three hours, tops.  He dismissed Asahi’s notifications in order to dial Takeda’s contact; he would reply to Asahi as soon as he had his exit secured.  He swiped through his contacts, stopping at Takeda, and pressed the button to call as Tanaka stood strict guard over the two grunts with really no other place to go.

            Takeda’s face appeared on the screen on the first ring.  He was flustered, but Noya saw nothing unusual about that.  “Nishinoya!”

            “Takeda.”

            “Where have you—?  Never mind, I—”  He disappeared from the screen for a moment before reappearing.  “Why is the Champion keeping tabs on you?

            “I don’t know, something about rocks,” said Noya, glancing over at Tanaka, who was staring his prisoners down like a guard houndoom.  His mind flashed to the carvings inside the cave.  They were in the rock, and Regirock _was_ rock, so maybe that had something to do with what the Champion was talking about.

            “Well, I’ll get some ride Pokémon to come get you, and…”

            “We’ve got two gang members here who’re going to need to be taken in.”

            “…oh!  I’ll call the police and have someone come in.  And I think…”  There was some muffled shouting and excitement of some kind off screen that may or may not have included someone shouting “Takeda-chan~~!” in a singsong voice, and Takeda glanced off after it for a moment.  “The Champion is on the other line, one second…”  He disappeared from the frame.

            “What’s going on?” called Tanaka from behind him.

            “Apparently the Champion is interested in what we’ve found here.”

            Yaku and Lev seemed to be visibly sweating.

            “Cool!”  Tanaka grinned.  “This is pretty cool, overall.”

            “We almost died,” said Yaku.

            “But we didn’t,” said Tanaka, his grin widening into something devilish as he turned back around.  “No thanks to _you_.”  Yaku pouted.

            “Noya?” came a small but panicked voice from Nishinoya’s PokéNav.  Noya held it up to see Takeda again.

            “Yeah, I’m here.”

            “The Champion is coming to get you.  He said he wants to attend to this himself.  The police are coming too, so…”

            “Thank you.”

            “I’ll expect a brief, um…”

            “I’ll take care of it when I get back,” said Noya, winking as he did.  Takeda fumbled some sort of good bye before the screen went dark, and Noya saw he had received another message from Asahi.

> A: I’m sorry for messaging so much, but let me know when you get this if you’re okay!!!

            Noya smiled and typed a response.

> N: im ok!! just felled a legendary titan B)  
>  N: kind of a big deal  
>  N: stopped the bad guys n all  
>  N: B0  
>  A: You’re okay!  Of course you are!  I’m sorry for all of the messages!  I was worried.  
>  N: its ok!!! weve got to watch these bad guys 4 a lil bit  
>  N: until the pokecops come 2 get them  
>  N: but it was w i l d  
>  N: ill give u all the deets soon  
>  N: ;3c  
>  A: Wait, legendary titan?

* * *

            About fifteen minutes later, something appeared on the horizon, a speck that gradually grew larger until it materialized into a tall man in a policeman’s uniform on the back of a rather large-looking crobat.  His wide grin and tousled, wild hair almost matched his crobat’s overall style.  He touched down, dismounted, and took a few steps toward Noya, holding out his hand to shake without skipping a beat.

            “Afternoon.”  His big grin somehow widened.  “I am officer Tetsuro, and I’m here to take these two,” he gestured to the two in red hoodies, who stared back with wide eyes, “off of your hands.”

            Noya took his hand and shook it.  The man’s handshake was firm, and Noya actively tightened his own against it until they both released.  “I’m Ranger Yu,” he responded, “and this is my, um, _associate_ , Tanaka.”  Tanaka shot the officer a nod.

            “A _pleasure_ ,” said Officer Tetsuro, producing some handcuffs from his belt.  “I’ll get these two out of here, then.  Make them my problem instead of yours, and all.”

            “Thanks,” said Noya.

            “Thank _you_ for taking care of them,” said the policeman, his voice hardening somewhat as he turned to the grunts and began to handcuff them, beginning with Lev.

As he secured Lev’s hands behind his back, Lev muttered, “Officer…?”

            “I don’t want to hear it from you two,” said Tetsuro, the mess of hair flopping away from his stern eyes for a moment as he energetically spoke.  “It’s quite the mess you’ve stirred up.”  He secured Yaku’s handcuffs, pulling him upward by the link so that both of the now-secured Magma grunts were standing side-by-side.

            He produced two pokéballs, released two golbats, and worked the two gang members onto their backs, securing them to an apparatus like a collar that was situated on the golbats’ necks.  He began to mount his crobat before turning back to Noya and Tanaka.  “Thank you again.”  His grin was pervasive.

            “Wait, what about our ride?” asked Tanaka.

            “Oh, the Rangers will be coming right behind me,” said Tetsuro, signaling with a pat to the side for his Pokémon to begin its ascent into the sky.  The golbats followed suit.  “I’ll take care of these two, though.”  They were rising up and away.  “Good bye!”

            They were gone moments later.  Noya turned to Tanaka and shrugged.  Tanaka screwed up his face and sighed.  “Freakin’ Rangers taking way longer…  Don’t they know I’m hungry?”

            “That’s a good point!” said Noya, pointing his eyes to the sky.  “They’d better bring snacks…”

            It was only about five minutes later that, seemingly out of nowhere, a large teal dragon swept down out of the sky, skitting up the sand below it as it landed.  On its back beamed down the Champion.

            “About time you got here!” exclaimed Tanaka, just as Noya said, “Do you have any snacks?”

            Oikawa raised one eyebrow as he dismounted his salamence and took a step toward them.  “ _No_ ,” he said, “I don’t have any snacks.”  He peered around.  “Where are the gang members?  The Magma members you caught?”

            “Oh, the officer—” Noya began, but he stopped with his thumb jutted over his shoulder as two PokéCops riding pidgeots touched down on either side of the Champion.

            “ _What_ officer?” asked Oikawa, his face darkening as he took a step closer to the pair.  Nishinoya tried to make himself seem taller, but it wasn’t really working as he realized his mistake.  “Was it Officer Semi or Officer Yamagata here?”

            “No, it…”

            “It was who?”

            “He said his name was Officer Tetsuro,” said Tanaka, crossing his arms.  The Champion facepalmed and turned to Officer Semi.

            “Have your men spread out.  Kuroo picked them up.  They could be anywhere in Hoenn by now.”  He turned back to the other two and muttered something about Ushijima bitching him out later under his breath, but they couldn’t really pick up on what he was saying.

            “Wait, what?” asked Nishinoya as the two officers remounted their bird Pokémon and took off, talking hurriedly into their PokéNavs as they did.

            The Champion let out an exasperated sigh as he turned back around to face them.  “The man you turned those two over to, he—”  Oikawa paused, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking a deep breath.  “He is the leader of Team Magma.”

            Noya felt his heart ensmallen about twelve sizes, and he didn’t have to turn to notice the outlandishly flat expression Tanaka was wearing as some sort of perceived defense mechanism.  “The…”

            Oikawa let out a sigh of disgust and turned away from them.  “They better not have screwed around with the stone…”

            “We didn’t touch your rock,” said Noya, hands at his hips.  “And how were we supposed to know…”

            “I’m sorry that you don’t have the good sense enough to not give criminals over to their gang bosses instead of the police,” said Oikawa, smoothing out his hand and glowering down at them.  He narrowed his eyes.  “I am going to have to…”  He sighed again, murmuring something about the chief.

            “Regirock is inside, fainted,” said Noya, his tone cold.

            “You’re _welcome_ ,” added Tanaka.

            “Yeah, yeah,” said Oikawa.  “I’ll be back with the Rangers later.  I was hoping to question the Magma goons myself, but…”  He somehow pouted and looked down on them at the same time.

            “Well, you can’t,” said Tanaka.  “But you _can_ get us out of the desert, so that’d be cool.”

            Oikawa narrowed his eyes further, then turned away with a dramatic flourish.  He pulled two pokéballs from his belt and tossed them out behind them, toward Tanaka and Noya.  In a flash of red, two saddled charizards appeared between them.  “Go, then,” said Oikawa, not turning back to them as he remounted his salamence.  “I’ll take care of the rest of this mess…” he muttered, trailing off as he took off into the air, not waiting for the other two to follow.

            “What an asshole,” said Tanaka.  Noya nodded, and they mounted the charizards.  Tanaka gripped the saddle with white knuckles even before they began to move off of the ground.

            “You know, on the backs of these Pokémon and the desert and stuff, we kind of look like we’re rough riders on the Poni Plains.”

            “Howdy, then,” said Tanaka, a frown as the charizard beat its wings, propelling them upward.  His face turned slightly green, but he held on tightly as they moved upward, heading back toward civilization over the desert, the setting sun casting long shadows across the orange sandy landscape at they traveled home.

* * *

            Noya leaned his head back against Asahi’s chest, and he could hear the larger man’s heart thumping rapidly.  He wasn’t sure if it was residual anxiety from him being out of contact, the ensuing explanation of what had happened, or the close physical contact, but in any case, Asahi’s racing heart was because of him and he sort of liked that.  He pulled Asahi’s arm around him a little tighter and they looked off over the hills, where the sun was shining off of the gently waving tall grass, the trees were rustling ever-so-slightly, and everything had a somewhat golden hue.

            “So they are still looking for them?”  Asashi’s voice caused slight vibrations through Noya as he leaned on him.

            “Yeah, they got away,” said Noya.  He frowned slightly.  “I mean, they’ll catch them soon enough.  The gangs, they’re… they’re really getting out of hand and stuff.”

            “Magma, you said?”

            “Yeah.”

            “They’re… they’re doing a lot of bad stuff.  The stuff in Rustboro…”

            Noya nodded into Asahi’s chest, holding him just a bit tighter.  He knew that city well, and to think that everything there was destroyed, it…  It didn’t feel good.  “We’ll get them,” he said.

            “What?” said Asahi.  He released his arm around Noya as the smaller man sat up, looking into his large brown eyes.

            “We’ll get them,” said Noya.  He brushed nonexistent dust off of his shirt and looked from Asahi to the sunset.  “Look, a few days ago, Ryu and I literally fought the desert and won.”  Asahi grinned.  “And now, I think that something else is going to happen.  I mean, that Tetsuro guy was _creepy_ , and I wouldn’t put it past him…”

            “You’ll be careful.”

            Noya stopped his short ramble and turned to Asahi, whose concerned eyes were locked on him.  Noya allowed a large smile to take over his face.

            “Of course I will,” said Nishinoya.  “Tanaka and I, we’re the _best_.  I mean that.  Whatever they’ll throw at us, we can take it.  We can win.”

            Asahi giggled, despite himself.  Noya’s unwarranted overconfidence was more than endearing.

            “And don’t worry,” said Noya, continuing while knowing that this would in no way stop Asahi from worrying, “this isn’t just about rushing in there.  It’s about defending those who need it.  Think about the Pokémon displaced by the desert, displaced by the flood.  There’s been all this going on, and someone’s got to stop it.”

            “And it’s going to be you.”

            “Hell yeah, it’s going to be me!”  Noya rolled over onto his knees to face Asahi, putting his hands on his shoulders.  “It’s going to be the coolest.”

            Asahi reddened and, instead of responding, reached up with his strong arms and pulled Noya close to him, pausing for a moment, their faces inches apart, before kissing him.  It took only a moment for Noya to wrap his stringy arms around Asahi’s neck and shoulders, embracing him, and they stayed like that for a moment, the dull warmth of the sunlight illuminating them.

            “You _are_ the very best,” said Asahi, whispering to Noya, their foreheads touching, when the kiss broke apart.

            “Hey!” shouted a voice from the bottom of the hill.  They looked down to Tanaka, who was standing there, waving to them energetically.  A bit behind him, Grandma Azumane stood in the doorway to the Day Care.  “Are you coming, or what?”

            Noya laughed, dropping away from Asahi’s embrace onto the grass.  After a moment, Asahi started laughing, too.  Noya’s hand brushed over Asahi’s in the grass, and he held it there for a moment, just enjoying his presence, his warmth.

            “Be right there!” called Noya, not looking away from Asahi’s face.

            Asahi grinned and pulled the bandanna from his hair.  His long brown locks fell down around his shoulders, and he leaned down to tie the piece of cloth around Noya’s right wrist, opposite his PokéNav.  Noya leaned forward and gave him a peck on the lips.  Asahi laughed again and stood up, Noya following.  Once they were standing, Asahi bent down to kiss Noya again, on the cheek, his freed hair falling down all around their faces as he kissed him.  “Go,” said Asahi, whispering in Noya’s ear.  He straightened up and waved back down to Tanaka, who had been averting his eyes.  “Go, and save the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much!!! This is so much fun and I'm glad you've come along to read this all!!!
> 
> PLEASE check out the other fics in the Haikyuu in Hoenn series! They're all connected! Two others are currently finished as I type this, so there's some stuff to catch up on!
> 
> Let me know if you liked it, and thanks again so much for reading!!!
> 
> ((and if you liked my AU and my haikyuu writing, consider checking out my other fics!)


End file.
